


P3 Demonic Dark Hour

by ThyAnarchists



Series: Demonic Personae [1]
Category: Persona 3, Persona Series, Shin Megami Tensei Series
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amala Multiverse, Death, Demons, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:27:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 29,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23542327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThyAnarchists/pseuds/ThyAnarchists
Summary: 10 years after the lost of his parents, Minato 'Arisato' moves back to Port Island to investigate what happened that night. Hopefully, he can do that before getting killed by demons.(Story is on break in the moment.)
Series: Demonic Personae [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1694230
Comments: 25
Kudos: 36





	1. Port Island

The whole house was asleep with the exception of a blue haired boy who was packing up his clothing into a blue travel bag along with fake identification papers and 1,000,000 yen. He zipped the bag quietly and deleted his internet history to throw off his tracks. He threw on a winter outfit along with a dark blue hat, and picked up the bag under one arm. He’d rather carry it than drag it around while making noise in the process.

The boy exited his room and made sure the lights were turned off. He tiptoed across the hallway before stopping in front of his little sister’s room. The boy took a quick look at his watch, ‘ _9:57, I have a little bit more time.’_ He gently placed down the bag and opened the door slightly to see his sister asleep. He took off his hat, entered the room, and placed it on top of his sister’s head before leaving the room, closing the door softly. He picked up his bag back up and walked down stairs.

He opened the front door and locked it on his way out. He then moved 3 houses across his before sprinting his way to the train station. After a long dash across the city, he made his way to the station. He bought a ticket and waited for the train to come. Unbeknownst to the boy, a blue butterfly took notice to him and fluttered to him. The butterfly landed on his head as the train showed up.

After getting on board, the boy sat down on one of the available seats and fell asleep.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The boy woke up without a memory of the dream. Gathering the train's new surroundings, he checked the time, _‘11:59, how long was I asleep? Looks like I’m almost at Port Island...Hard to believe it has been 10 years.’_ The train stopped and the boy stepped off the train. _‘Why did the train stop right before midnight? Were there some technical difficulties along the way or something?'_

The clock struck midnight as the sky turned green and blood began to form on the walls and street. Everyone began to turn into a coffin except for the boy who remained perfectly fine. He walked his way to the apartment complex he planned on staying at. After reaching what he assumed was the halfway point, he heard a man scream before a baseball bat slid to his right foot. The boy picked up the bat and turned to face the alleyway.

From there a walking corpse emerged from the shadows with an arm hanging off of its mouth.

“Ok, this is new….”

The boy swung the baseball bat at the lunging zombie and ran off as fast as he could, keeping his bat and bag in hand. After avoiding more zombies and demons, he finally reached his destination. He climbed up the stairs, found the room he’s going to stay at, pulled out the keys, unlocked the door, and threw himself in before locking the door.

The boy regained his composure and caught his breath. 

_‘I can’t die just yet, not before I learn what happened that night...All that preparation would have gone to waste…’_

He stood up and took a look at his new home. The place had a kitchen, a bathroom, and most importantly, a bed. The boy dressed in his sleepwear and layed down on it.

“Why hello,” a voice called out.

The tired boy turned his head to see a younger looking boy with pale skin and bright blue eyes. The boy was holding a clipboard and a pen.

“Will you please sign this contract.” the young boy asked while holding it out to the bluenette.

‘I will accept the consequences of my actions’ the older boy signed the paper without much thought.

‘Minato Arisato’

Minato returned the contract to the boy who seemed satisfied.

The boy continued to speak, “Death comes for us all, you can only delay the inevitable…”

The boy disappeared into the darkness as the world returned to normal, leaving Minato alone in the apartment to wonder in his thoughts. Before he went to sleep he pulled out a journal from his bag and began to write in it.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Minato Arisato Log 1 [April 5th, 2009]_

_So I’m finally back in my birthplace, Port Island. I’ll be writing these logs to record my findings to the truth of my parents deaths. I don’t know what it was exactly, but this ‘25th Hour’ must have something to do with it. I don’t care if my Aunt and Uncle didn’t want me to go here, I’m doing it anyways._

_Sadly I no longer have the hat I’ve worn since I was 9. I kind of left it on my sister’s head before I went here. Don’t know why she wanted to have it for all these years but I suppose she can have it now. She better wear that thing for at least a month, she’s been begging for it ever since it landed on my head._

_When I fell asleep on the train, I had a weird dream that I can’t recall too well at the moment. I remember a guy in a mask and that’s about it. The word Persona is also burned into my head for some reason, can’t explain why._

_Also, I’ve been experiencing the 25th Hour for ten years by now and I never saw a single zombie until this night. There was another guy who was able to roam around at this time but he uh...yeah…let’s just say that I’m glad that this complex gave the key ahead of time instead of when I got there._

_I have no idea what was up with that kid with that prison outfit. He wanted me to sign a contract for some reason. I also don’t know what compelled me to write my name on it. I even wrote my actual surname after the fake one. That can’t possibly end well._


	2. Persona

Minato got up and dressed himself into the school uniform. The uniform was a white button shirt with a black jacket along with black slacks and brown shoes. Minato left the room and was greeted by a man with black hair. Judging by his casual outfit, he seemed to be unemployed at the moment.

“Ah, are you new here?” The man offered his hand, “My name is Nakajima Akemi, pleased to meet you.”

Minato raised an eyebrow, “Arisato Minato...” Minato shook the man’s name, “Nice to meet you too...”

Minato felt a weird sensation as his vision started to blur, ending once he let go of the man’s hand.

“I should be going now.” 

The man smiled, “Ah yes, you wouldn’t want to miss your first day.”

Minato ran down the stairs and made his way to school. 

“Crazy weirdo...” he muttered

His trip to school was a quick one, mostly thanks to the apartment complex’s location. The school in question being Gekkoukan High School. The school itself at least looked nicer than the hellhole that was Minato’s previous school, Jusho High.  _ ‘Now I just have to hope that the bullying problem isn’t as bad here. Wasn’t there that rumor where a student programmed a demon summoning program to get revenge on his bullies?’  _

Deciding to not delve deeper into the rumor, Minato entered the school lobby and made his way to the faculty office. From there he tapped out the teacher’s shoulder to get her attention. The teacher turned to Minato as he pulled out the identification papers.

“You must be the new transfer student. I’m Ms. Toriumi, I’ll be your homeroom teacher for this year.”

Minato handed over the papers, leaving Toriumi to read over them. Minato didn’t pay attention to her ramblings as every teacher had the same reactions.

“Well then, class is gonna start so will you please follow me.”

Minato nodded and followed the teacher to his homeroom.

The two entered the room as Minato was brought to the front of the class.

“Good Morning, today we have a new transfer student.” The teacher turned to Minato, “May you introduce yourself.”

So he did, “Arisato Minato.”

After a few more seconds it became clear that he had nothing else to say.

“Ok then… your seat is in the back over there...”

Minato nodded and walked over to his seat to sit down.

The day went by quickly as school ended. Minato got up to leave before getting stopped by another teen who was wearing a baseball cap. ‘ _ Wait, are hats allowed?’ _

The teen spoke up, “Sup dude, How’s it going?”

“Uh, who are you?” The bluenette asked.

“The name’s Iori Junpei, I know how it’s like being the new kid, so I just wanted to say ‘hey’.”

“Ok...” Minato picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

“You want me to show you around town?” Junpei offered.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Ok, whatever you say.”

Minato nodded and left the school.

____________________________________________________________________________

Minato walked back home with the bag of groceries in hand. He climbed up the stairs and was yet again greeted by Akemi, who was holding something.

“Perfect timing, I got you a welcoming gift.” 

The man tossed the object to Minato. It was a white hat similar to the previous one that he had worn. Why was this man being so generous?

The man smiled, “Don’t give me that look. I do this for everyone that moves in. I don’t really have much in terms of hobbies anyways.”

“Wouldn’t you need money to buy any of this?” the bluenette retorted.

“I have a well paying job that starts later in the day. Speaking of which, I should be going.”

The man walked down the stairs leaving Minato to his own devices. He still didn’t know what to think of the guy. He is too nice for it to be true, there has to be a catch. Minato shrugged, put on the hat, and entered his home. After storing away his groceries, Minato went ahead and finished all his homework in one run so he wouldn’t have to worry about it for the rest of the week. After finishing, Minato got up and made himself a quick meal as the 25th hour approached. Minato looked outside the window to see the city affected by the hour.

‘ _ Guess I’ve been working on my homework for too long.’  _ He took a look at where the school should be and noticed something peculiar. Instead of a school there was a giant tower that you definitely can miss. Minato finished the meal and went to search for the baseball bat from last night. Minato found the bat and left the building.

Minato found himself standing in front of the tower admitting to himself that this is his most stupid idea yet. But he was going to find out the truth behind the death of his parents, he needed to investigate every bit of possible evidence. So he marched on into the front door.

The first room was empty save for a strange machine that did nothing, a clock that actually worked, telling Minato there he has 40 minutes left, a staircase that presumably led to the next floor, a blue door that, try as he might, Minato can’t open. He then decided to go up the stairs and see what he can find.

The next thing he saw were hallways that led to more hallways. He readied his bat in case something attacks him. His assumption is correct when something leaped at him from the left from which he blocked. That something was a black blob with a blue mask. For whatever reason, a series of words found its way into the boy’s thoughts. 

‘Shadow: Cowardly Maya, Magician Arcana.’

_ ‘Why do I know what this thing is called? I have never seen this before.’ _

The shadow lunged at him who countered with a bat swing. Not giving the opportunity of letting it get up, Minato started beating down on it until it finally died.

_ ‘Ok, this was definitely a bad idea...why do I hear chains?’  _ Minato continued onward trying to determine where the sound of chains were coming from before hearing a loud bang. ‘ _ Was that a gunshot?’  _ Minato was struck by a bolt of lightning, sending him flying onto a wall. Upon landing, he coughed up blood and looked at what hit him. It was a tall figure wearing a blood stained coat and a bloody bag over its head, with one part of it’s mask ripped enough to show its eye. Considering the fact that this looks to be a one sided fight, Minato chucked the baseball hat to its head, breaking on impact, and made a run for it.

His mind was racing as he ran past numerous shadows, dodging each lightning strike that was thrown at him. The reaper changed tactics and started firing its gun, purposely missing every shot.  _ ‘Ok, now it’s just toying with me.’  _ Minato turned left and ended up in a dead end. He turned around to see the reaper coming from the corner. Time seemed to slow when the reaper started to aim his rifle at the teen.

_ ‘No, not like this. Not yet. I still need to learn what happened on that night. I won’t let it happen! I will survive this night!’  _ and so a voice calls.

**“I am thou… Thou art I...”**

Power began to flow within him.

**“From the sea of thy souls, I come...”**

A being made of metal formed from behind him

**“I am Orpheus, master of strings”**

Orpheus casted a spell of fire with his lyre and stunned the reaper enough to allow Minato to bolt past it. He dashed through the hall and found a machine emitting green light. Taking a chance, Minato dove into the light and found himself in the lobby, collecting as many breaths as he could. He picked himself up and stared up at the stairs that led him to his near death.

“Fuck...this place...I’m going home.”

Minato stepped out of the tower’s entrance and made his way back home, unaware that he was being watched. From the rooftops, a man sat and stared at the injured boy entering his home with a peak of interest.

“He handled that better than expected. I did not expect that he would go for Tartarus this soon. He even managed to awaken a Persona.” he pondered. “Well Minato, although your time as the wild card was cut short before it could begin, it seems that you can help the true wild card when the time comes.” he stood up and disappeared into the night.

____________________________________________________________________________

_ Minato Arisato Log 2 [April 6th, 2009] _

_ HOW AM I ALIVE! I mean, I’m glad I still have the chance to find out what happened to mom and dad but still. I should have died that night. The only reason why I’m still alive is because I think I awoken some power that summons… whatever that was. It said that it’s name is Orpheus and I can sense him in my brain along with two others. I don’t know why, but the word Persona keeps coming to mind whenever I think about him...I’m calling him a Persona until I find out what is. Or you know, it’s actually what he is.  _

_ I’m reminded of this game I tried once and never again called Master Persona. It was supposed to tell you your future but nothing happened. Maybe it was because I tried playing it by myself?… no there were two others but I don’t remember who. _

_ The neighbor was strange to say the least. Mr. Nakajima barely knew me but he somehow knew I was in need of a hat. Something’s up with him, but I don’t think I’ll be able to discern what it is yet. _

_ Odd, I haven’t passed out y- _

Minato passed out in his bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who don’t know, in the PSX Persona games, the main characters summoned their Persona with their will. Persona 3 was the first in the series to use another method. The PSX Persona games also allow every party member to use multiple Persona but they’re limited to a few types of arcana.
> 
> Also, Akemi is a thing… chances are you don’t know who he is and I don’t blame you. He technically isn’t the same one that we know and hate anyways. I have plans for him but they likely won’t come into fruition until much later into the story.
> 
> I’ll see you in the next chapter.


	3. Shiomi Kotone

“What’s this?”

A red eyed girl stood in the middle of the streets to see the city rusted and splattered with blood. The sky was also green and there were coffins everywhere. The girl shrugged and simply skipped her way to the dormitories. She reached her destination and walked inside

From there, she found a piece of paper lying on the counter top. She took a look at it and discerned that it was some sort of contract. What’s strange is what was written on it.

‘I will accept the consequences of my actions.’ 

What's even stranger was the scribbled out name placed on the same contract. The most she could make out was ‘M-n-to -r-sa-o ---------’ determining that this was a prank, The girl played along and wrote her name underneath the scribbled mess.

‘Kotone Shiomi’

The contract disappeared as if it was never there to begin with.

“Who’s there?”

Kotone turned her head to see a girl with brown hair standing there. Before she could answer her question, the girl pulled out a gun and aimed it at her.

“Takeba, Wait!” the room returned to normal as an older girl with red hair came in. “I didn’t think you’d arrive so late. My name is Kirijo Mitsuru, One of the students that live in this dorm.”

The younger girl stared in confusion, “Who’s she?”

Kotone smiled, “Shiomi Kotone, I’m a transfer student. Nice to meet you!” she shook hands with the other brunette.

“...Uh...Takeba Yukari...Nice to meet you too...”

It’s getting late, so you should get some rest. Your room is on the third floor at the end of the hallway. Your stuff should already be there.” Mitsuru explained.

“Thank you, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“W-wait, I can show the way.” Yukari offered.

“Don’t worry, I think I’ll be fine!”

Kotone ran upstairs to the third floor and found her room. She opened the door and went inside. As told, all her stuff was already inside the room. She got dressed in her nightgown and went to bed. She can’t wait for her first day.

///

Minato felt dead the moment he woke up. As much as he wanted to stay in bed, he had to go to school. He changed into a uniform that wasn’t damaged, made and ate breakfast and wobbled his way out the door, school bag in hand. As expected, he was greeted by Mr. Nakajima, yet again. _ ‘Wait, why is his hair white now?’  _ He blinked and saw it return to black.

“Morning Arisato, did you like the hat?”

“Yeah, why?”

“No reason, have a great day.” Akemi patted Minato’s shoulder and went back inside.

“Crazy weirdo...” Minato muttered before leaving.

///

Minato sat down on his seat as he heard some of the students whispering.

“I saw Yukari walking with a new transfer student today.”

“Really? lucky bastard...”

“No! Not the one from yesterday, it was a new girl.”

“Quiet, the teacher’s coming.”

Ms. Tomuri walked in with said new girl walking behind her. She had auburn hair with a ponytail, and had red eyes.

“This is our second transfer student, may you please introduce yourself?”

“Right! My name is Shiomi Kotone, I look forward to meeting you all!”

“Thank you Shiomi, your seat is next to Arisato over there.”

The girl walked over to him and sat down next to him. The teacher started to begin the lesson but Minato found himself unable to hear anything that the teacher said.

“Iori, were you listening?! Who did I say was my favorite author?”

“Huh, Umm...” Junpei leaned over to whisper to Minato. “Psst! Minato! Who did she say she liked...Minato?”

Minato coughed up blood and fell over to the ground, blacking out on impact. The class started to panic as the teacher told Junpei to get him into the nurse’s office. The class started mummering about what happened to the blunette.

“What happened? He was completely fine yesterday.”

“Wasn’t he wobbling on his way to school, he must have known something was wrong.”

“Is he dying? He can’t die! He just got here!”

Kotone, meanwhile, stared at the now empty seat with wide eyes. She looked over to Yukari to see that she was just as freaked out.  _ ‘I did not expect this to happen.’  _ Junpei eventually came back and class continued as normal.

The day ended and Kotone decided to go to the nurse’s office to see if Minato was ok. When she got there she saw Junpei outside the door.

Junpei noticed the girl, “Oh hey, you here to see him too?”

Kotone nodded, “Yeah, he was next to me when it happened so I wanted to see if he was ok. What about you?”

“Besides the fact that I had to carry him here, I talked to him on the first day, even if he didn’t really say much.” Junpei offered his hand, “Oh yeah, The name’s Iori Junpei, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.”

The two entered the room as the nurse was talking to Minato, who is now up.

“-so go home and get some sleep, Understood?”

“Yes...”

Minato looked over to the door and saw Junpei and Kotone standing by the doorway.

“Ah, perfect...Can you take Arisato here home?”

The two agreed and helped Minato on his way back home. The three initiated a conversation.

“So, your name is Arisato Minato, right?” Kotone started first.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Just checking.”

“So, where do you live?” Junpei asked.

“Over here...” he pointed at the apartment complex next to him.

The group climbed the stairs and the three entered his apartment.

“So this is your place?” asked Junpei

“Yeah?”

“Dude, there’s not even a TV here!”

Sure enough, the place was rather minimal. What was here was the bare basics of a home. A room with a bed, some chairs, a small table next to the window, a fridge and some cabinets, and a washer dryer?

“...I keep things simple...”

The two decided to not question him further. The three exchanged phone numbers and Kotone and Junpei left the apartment.

///

_ Minato Arisato Log 3 [April 7th, 2009] _

_ Yesterday’s events caught up to me and I passed out in class today. Wonderful first impressions for the new girl today. Oh yeah, there was another transfer student. Her name was Shiomi Kotone. She kind of reminds me of a friend I used to have back when my parents were still alive. I doubt she knows about what happened to them. _

_ I think I’m gonna have to lay back on exploring the 25th hour for now. Considering the fact that I lost my only means of defence along with my injury, I wouldn’t make any progress if I tried… actually I feel completely fine now… the fuck… I still need to check if Nakajima knows something about the 25th hour. Something just tells me he knows. hold on, let me look him up. _

///

Kotone found herself sitting in a chair in a blue room after falling asleep. Beside her was an empty chair and in front was a bald man with a long nose sitting on a couch with a table in front of him. And to the right side of him stood a man with white hair wearing blue. And the left side stood a woman with the same hair color.

“Welcome to the Velvet Room, young lady. My name is Igor, I am delighted to meet your acquaintance… these two are Elizabeth and Theodore, they are residents here like myself.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Elizabeth spoke first.

“I hope to assist you in your journey.” Theodore followed.

“Um...Nice to meet you” Kotone spoke warily.

“This place exists between dreams and reality...It’s been years since we had a guest.”

Igor waved his hand over the table and the contract Kotone signed appeared.

“Only those who have signed the contract may enter this place, henceforth, you are welcome here. All I ask is for you to take responsibility for your actions. There was supposed to be a second guest alongside you, but it seems that his fate was tampered with.”

“So that’s what it was for.” Kotone muttered before processing that last part. “Wait, what happened to the other guest?” she asked.

Igor frowned alongside Elizabeth and Theodore, “You might have noticed that his name has been covered up by an outside source. While he may still be alive and had already awakened his power, someone tampered with the contract before you could get your hands on it. The culprit must have had immense power in order to accomplish such a feat.”

Kotone felt a surge of disappointment hearing this, “Will the two of us ever meet?”

“Perhaps...” Igor pulled out a blue key and handed it to Kotone. “Hold this, you may need it for the future. Till we meet again...”

Kotone felt herself being pulled away from the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah by the way, the female protagonist is in this story. As for why I used her name from the play? Eh, I felt like it… also because I had already named the male Minato Arisato.
> 
> Also, I had discovered two demons in the series that I am torn on whether or not I’ll include them. They’ll definitely get a mention but I don’t know if I should have them appear. I’ll just say that they were planned to appear in the first game but they just never did. And it’s pretty obvious why, but they’re glorious!
> 
> I also decided to just skip Ikutsuki’s introduction because it would be the same as in the game. But in compensation, uh, here’s a recreation of that scene.
> 
> I: Introduces his name as ikutsuki  
> K: Says that she’s doing good  
> I: Makes a Bad Pun  
> Y: Groans in agony
> 
> ...Nailed it!


	4. "Nakajima Akemi"

“Deceased?”

After Minato’s two guests left the apartment, he looked up Akemi’s name and got the results he was not expecting.

“Nakajima Akemi, Died on February 29, 1988. He was a student in Jusho High School who was reported to have murdered his classmates and teachers. He was sent to trial for these crimes to which he was sentenced to death. The actual cause of his death is unknown and the methods he used are withheld by the government.”

The picture that accompanied the page showed a Nakajima with a near identical look to the one he knew, with the exception of the eyes. 

“Hazel eyes? Didn’t he have red eyes?” he murmured.

Minato took note that, what he thinks is, the real Akemi attended Jusho High, the school that he himself attended last year and would have continued attending if he hadn’t snuck off. Recalling the rumors that he heard during that time, there was a student who took vengeance on his bully by summoning demons to kill them for him. Was that student Akemi?

As much as he wanted to interrogate his neighbor, he was probably gone by this point anyways. He could ask him when he gets the chance. But for the time being, he needs to test something. He got off his chair, stepped into the most open part of the room, and took a deep breath.

**“PERSONA!!!”**

Orpheus formed above him for a few seconds before being recalled.

_ ‘So I can still summon them even outside the 25th hour… That’s good to know.’ _

Knowing this, Minato decided to go to sleep. Tomorrow he will start his investigation.

///

He didn’t greet him this morning.  _ ‘That bastard...’  _ Class ended without any incidents and Minato proceeded to leave the class. His classmates kept asking if he was okay after what is now known as ‘the bloody cough of the Arisato.’ Junpei was probably the one to come up with that name.

He decided to check out the antique shop that was in the mall to see what he can find. He looked around the shop and found something that peaked his interest. It was a pocket watch that counted down by an hour. You would press down on the button and the clock would wind up using a string that is placed inside and would start the countdown once released. An idea popped into Minato’s mind.

The 25th hour renders electronic machines useless as far as Minato can tell. Since this was something that relied on the location on the string to position the hands, it may work in that hour. Minato bought the watch and left the shop.

He returned to the complex and found a note sitting on Nakajima’s door.

‘Gone for the whole day, come back tomorrow. -Nakajima ’

There was even a smiley face with a tongue sticking out… he has to wait until tomorrow doesn't he?

“Crazy weirdo...”

///

In the dormitories, Yukari, Mitsuru, and the dorm’s chairman Ikutsuki watch the dark hour unfold and see that Kotone is still fine during the hour. Ikutsuki was the first to speak

“She’s still sleeping… normally she would be transformed into a coffin or her psyche would’ve cracked, but she’s behaving perfectly normal so far. Whether or not she has the potential is still unclear. In any case, it would be wise to keep monitoring her.”

Mitsuru nodded but Yukari still felt uncomfortable from this.

“By the way Takeba, I heard that one of your classmates suddenly collapsed yesterday.” Mitsuru asked her fellow dormmate.

“Oh him...he was the new transfer student besides Shiomi. He was completely fine when he was introduced but ended up in a worse condition one the next day.”

Ikutsuki hummed to this, “What was his name?”

“Arisato Minato, you're not saying he has the potential are you?”

“Perhaps...”

///

At that same time, Minato tested his theory on whether or not the watch he bought would work during the 25th hour. He pressed down on the button and the clock winded up successfully before counting down. With that, he smiled.

“Good, I can use this for when I go out to explore.” 

He turned to his bed and was genuinely surprised by what he saw. It was the same kid that greeted him on his first night here.

“It’s nice to see you again,” the kid said smiling.

“Who are you?”

“We’ve met before...”

_ ‘I meant your name but ok, play it that way...’ _

“I see that you’ve awakened your power... and an unusual power it is. It might prove to be your salvation, depending on where you go from here.”

“Ok, can I ask? What was that contract for?”

“...I don’t know...”

“You don’t know?!”

“We’re both limited to the same knowledge at this point. I don’t remember too much at the moment, but I’ll tell you when I do.”

“Well, thanks… I’ll keep that in mind...”

“Okay then, I’ll see you later...”

The boy disappeared into the darkness leaving Minato alone in his apartment.

///

Class was dismissed and Minato stepped off campus before being stopped by Junpei.

“Sup dude, you want to hang out?” Junpei asked.

“Sorry Junpei, I already have plans. Maybe some other time.”

“What are those plans? Maybe I could join in on the fun.”

“Sorry, But it’s supposed to be a secret.”

“A secret uh? Ok then, I’ll leave you be...”

_ ‘He’s going to try and follow me isn’t he? Ok then, time for plan B.’ _

“It’s just a part time job at Wild Duck Burger.”

“Oh… well that’s a lame secret!”

“In any case, I have to go now, see ya.”

“See ya...”

Minato walked back home without the worry of Junpei.

_ ‘Shit, now I really do need to get a job at Wild Duck Burger...’ _

He arrived at the complex and found Nakajima standing in front of his apartment.

“Ah, Arisato...How was your day?”

Time to get this over with. “Who are you?”

“Nakajima Akemi? I thought we have already met?”

“No...I mean who are you really? I looked up your name and found that Nakajima lived and died two decades ago. Not only that, he had hazel eyes instead of red. So why are you trying to pose as him?”

The man sighed, “Ok fine, come inside, I’ll give you a few explanations.”

Minato followed him inside his apartment building. The living room had a table and two chairs, some bookshelves by the wall, a computer sitting on a desk, and a CRT television. Minato sat on one of the chairs as Akemi did the same.

“I must say, it's a bit hypocritical for you to accuse me for false identity when you do the same.”

Minato’s eyes widened, ”H-how did you know?”

“I did the same, there was no such thing as the Arisato family. How did you come up with that name, I’ll never know. Rest assured, I’ll keep your true identity a secret.”

“You figured that out too?”

Akemi raised an eyebrow, “It wasn’t that hard… anyways, I guess I should tell you most of it.”

“Most of it?”

“Believe me, if I told you everything, you would suffer from information overload and an existential crisis.”

Minato decided it was best to not push it.

“You want to know, I guess I’ll tell you. I am a Demon Summoner who can experience a phenomenon known as the Dark Hour.” Akemi spoke with conviction.

“The Dark Hour?”

“It’s an hour that takes place between 11:59 and 12:00.”

“That’s what it’s called, I can’t tell if it’s better or worse than the 25th hour.” Minato Muttered, “So, you say you're a demon summoner?”

“Yes, the Nakajima you read about was a Demon Summoner who fought Loki, and Seth. I took his name as my alias as a homage to him.”

“Wait, that rumor about him killing his classmates with demons?”

Akemi cringed, “Yeah, wasn’t exactly his brightest moment. That isn’t even the entire story with that debacle but we would be here all night if I told you everything.”

“I don’t think I even want to hear the full story...so, demons exist?”

“Yep, they range from different myths and religions.”

“So every religion is correct?”

“Indeed! Quick question, which religion do you follow?”

“Shinto, why do you ask?”

“No reason...Moving on, they can also stem from pop culture if they’re well known enough. For example, Jack Frost is one of those demons.”

“Wait...does that mean...”

“What are you...oh, I see. Don’t worry, those two can only be found in Tokyo Destinyland.” Akemi said, waving off his hand.

“You’re not helping...”

Akemi gave out a chuckle before moving on, “In any case, there are also Persona users, people who can use a Persona.”

Minato recognized that word, “Hold on, is this a Persona?” Minato summoned Orpheus for a brief moment before despelling him.

“Yes it is...a Persona is a manifestation of your psyche that will aid you in battle. However, unlike demons, they are usually out for only a few seconds at most. Personas also grant you a boost in strength that normal people don’t have”

“I see...so are Persona users stronger then?”

“Not at all, some Demon Summoners have the potential to kill god himself without the use of magic. The only real downside is having to keep paying your demons if you want to summon them.”

“I can see what you mean about information overload.”

“I haven’t even gotten to the crazy stuff like the Amala multiverse.”

“The what?”

“Nothing, just don’t worry about it... That’s all I have left to say for now, but there is a proposition that I have for you.”

Minato raised an eyebrow, “What is it?”

“I would like to form a partnership for when you go out during the Dark Hour. This hour is home to many twisted incidents that occur without anyone knowing. So I figured that you are able to solve them with your intelligence. I’ll even pay you for those cases.”

“So we’re starting a detective’s agency?”

“I gave you that hat for a reason didn’t I? Do you accept?” Akemi reached his hand to Minato, offering a handshake. 

Minato thought about the benefits,  _ ‘This could help me learn about that car crash. He also knows information that I don’t have at the moment.’ _ he shook the man’s hand.

///

_ Minato Log 4 [April 8-9, 2009] _

_ So, my neighbor’s a Demon Summoner… I did not see that one coming… I also didn’t expect to start an alliance with said Demon Summoner… maybe I should have listened to my aunt and stayed in Tokyo. _

_ I now know for sure that Personas are they’re correct name and that the 25th hour is actually called the Dark Hour. I still don’t know Nakajima’s true name, but something tells me he won’t tell me just yet. _

_ I won’t be going out tonight but I will tomorrow. My gosh, he really wasn’t kidding about the information overload was he? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The compendium was supposed to be introduced in this chapter… but that conversation would have been even longer if I had put it in. Don’t worry, there will be action in the next chapter.
> 
> I’ll see you next chapter.


	5. First Night Out

The seat next to Minato’s was empty. Apparently Kotone got sick yesterday which prompted students to believe that the transfer students are cursed to get sick in their first days of school and now they wait for the one in the other class to get sick as well. Minato had also gotten confirmation that he can indeed wear a hat in this school so he now wears the detective's hat given by Nakajima.

“Soooo, you’re wearing a hat now?” Junpei asked with a grin.

“Yes, what about it?”

“I see that I’ve influenced your style...good to know...”

Minato scoffed, “I’ve been wearing a hat ever since I was 9.”

“Well I’ve worn one since I was 8, maybe we’ve met in the past and I influenced you then.”

“You wish...”

“Relax, I was kidding...But I must say, that hat makes you look like a detective. Maybe you could be one in the future.”

“...”

“By the way, I got a secret of my own now. But, I won’t tell you what it is. Not unless you use those detective skills.”

“Have you also gotten a job at Wild Duck Burger?”

“What? No! I have an actual secret compared to you!”

“Well then, lay it on me...”

“Well you see, I-Wait a minute!”

“Well then, I’ll see you tomorrow Junpei.”

“You too.”

Minato returned to his apartment and got dressed in his improv detective's uniform, which amounted to a grey jacket, the white detective hat, and blue slacks. He grabbed his pocket watch on the way out.

He ate out at Wild Duck Burger half expecting Junpei to actually be working there. He finished his fifth burger, and his small fries along with his large fries, and threw away the trash. He walked out, drink in hand, and raised an eyebrow at something strange. He was pretty sure that there wasn’t supposed to be a jack frost statue blocking the bookstore. He asked around the area and everyone was just as confused. Maybe someone moved it there...but also, why? He couldn’t get it to move either so there is something wrong with this thing. He looked through the bookstore window to see that no one was inside.

He decided to go back to the complex.

///

Minato entered his neighbor’s apartment to see him tinkering with something on his desk. There was also a short sword sitting on the table.

Akemi turned to him, “Ah, ready for your first night out.”

“Ready, what’s my first case?”

“Depends on what you want to be honest. I’m not going to throw something dangerous for your first night.”

He got up and picked up the sword. He handed it over to Minato.

“I guess you can start with the Jack Frost statue that never stays in place.”

“I remember seeing it in front of a bookstore.”

“Those poor elders.”

“What are you working on over there?” Minato asked, pointing towards the machine being worked on.

“Oh that, I’ll show you before you leave.”

The two walked over to the desk, allowing Minato to further inspect Akemi’s project. It looked to be a portable computer that you can wear on your arm.

“Isn’t this a COMP?”

“Why yes it is. The method of demon summoning I use requires a summoning program. Since the Dark Hour disables electricity, I have to rig it with a new power source.” He pulled out a purple stone out of his pocket, “This is a Plume of Dark, I found it when I decided to explore Tartarus two days ago. This will allow me to run the COMP during the Dark Hour as well as in the day. It might take me awhile, but I think I’ll finish it by the 26th of this month. Maybe I’ll even join you when that time comes.”

Akemi sat back down on his chair and got back to work.

“The Dark Hour will arrive in ten seconds, I wish you the best of luck. Make sure you take the Life Stones on the way out.”

Minato wound up his pocket watch and left the apartment as the Dark Hour drew near.

“Shit! I forgot to tell him about negotiations!”

///

Minato laid his eyes on a nearby demon.

‘Demon: Zombie, Undead Race, no arcana.’

 _‘Ok, guess I’m going to have to deal with this every now and again.’_ the boy thought as he slashed the zombie away. He stabbed the zombie’s head before moving on.

He made his way to the bookstore and found the statue moving away at the distance. He moved towards the statue before seeing that a snowman was moving it.

‘Demon: Jack Frost, Fairy Race, Magician Arcana.’

Jack Frost spotted Minato and quickened his pace as the boy gave chase. The snowman ran up the stairs only to lose his balance and fall backwards. The statue hit the ground and shattered as if it was made of ice.

The jack frost saw it’s destroyed statue and fired an icicle at Minato. He dodged and readied his sword.

“I spent an hour building that, He. And now you’ve gone and broken it, Ho.”

“Weren’t you the one carrying that?”

“Victim blaming are you, He Ho? Well then, He… I’m just going to have to break you, Ho!”

Jack Frost fired off another Bufu and Minato retaliated by summoning Orpheus to cast an Agi at it. The Agi hit but it didn’t look like it did a lot. ‘ _What if I lowered it’s defence?’_

**“Orpheus, Rakunda!”**

The snowman’s defence was lowered and Minato fired off another Agi. the snow man threw a punch and sent Minato backwards. Another Bufu was fired and Minato’s leg was stabbed by the Icicle. He tore it off and fired one last Agi. Minato placed pressure on the wound as the snowman fled upstairs.

“I’ll have my revenge! Just you wait, Ho!”

The demon ran away from there leaving Minato alone. He pulled out one of the Life Stones out of his pocket and tightened his grip. The stone disappeared and his leg was healed.

_‘I didn’t win, you just ran away.’_

Minato pulled out the pocket watch and saw that he had ten minutes left.

“I better hurry back.”

He ran back to the complex before the Dark Hour could end.

///

When Minato returned to Nakajima’s apartment with a hole going through one of the leggings of his pants, Akemi knew that something clearly went wrong. The Dark Hour faded away as Minato placed his sword back on the table.

“Maybe I should have trained you up before sending you out to the wild.”

“You think?”

Akemi sighed, “Alright, tomorrow I’ll tell you a few more things that can help you out there.”

“Yeah, sounds nice...”

“Good night kid, I’ll see you then.”

Minato left the apartment and Akemi returned to working on the COMP.

“It may take a while, but that kid will definitely go far. He may even surpass me someday... He is supposed to be this timeline’s version of Yuki Makoto after all. Whether or not he succeeds is still uncertain.” he set down the skrewdriver and pondered some more, “It’s still a bit strange that he hasn’t summoned Thanatos yet. Was it because of… no it couldn’t be that. Wasn’t he supposed to have an MP3 player as well?” Akemi stood up from his desk and stored away the COMP, “He really is that different from the base timeline isn’t he? His name and family aren’t even the same yet he has the same appearance and car crash backstory. Well, except for the hat… I don’t know where that came from. He’s quite interesting isn’t he?”

Akemi stored away the short sword and went to bed.

/// 

_Minato Arisato Log 5 [April 10-13]_

_The first night out was hell. I felt stronger after that night...but it was thanks to luck that I didn’t die. Akemi and I both agreed that I should wait a bit longer before I can explore every part of Port Island._

_The next day was spent on learning about negotiation. Basically, I can talk to demons and convince them to do one of three things. They can give me money, They could sign a contract that lets me create a manifested version of them, or they could give me Tarot cards for Persona creation. Akemi doesn’t know how to create Personas so that's all on me I guess._

_Oh yeah, apparently I can use multiple Persona as long as they are an arcana that I’m a part of. Those arcana are, as told by Akemi, Fortune, Fool, Death, Judgement, Hanged Man, and Justice. I was also told that I could use Star, Moon, and Devil arcana but I would end up having a harder time using them. He mentioned that if I was a wild card, I would have access to every arcana...but I don’t..._

_So when the Dark Hour arrived yesterday, I went out in an attempt to forge a contract with some demons and...well…_

“Do I look good?”

“Uh, yeah...you’re beautiful...”

“You’re lying!”

“You want me to join you?”

“Yes…”

“Hmm...give me 50,000 yen...”

Minato handed over the money. The demon ran away and the boy gave chase.

“Give me a life stone...”

Minato handed over the life stone.

“I am in your care... Take this life stone as a gift.”

The demon gave Minato a life stone who starred in bewilderment.

_...The only demon I could get a contract was from an angel. Every other demon either gave me money or a tarot card. On the plus side, I have enough money to pay the rent for the rest of the year. I’m gonna have to brush up on my social skills in order for these negotiations to work. Kotone just came back from being sick today so maybe I could practice with her?_

_Current Persona:_

_Orpheus: Bash, Agi, Rakunda_

_Angel: Garu, Parta_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In Persona 1&2, every party member was able to use multiple Personas but were unable to use certain arcana. This was dependent on the user’s affinity which determines which arcana they do well in. the better the affinity, the less Sp that is needed to cast spells. I decided to apply this logic to Minato since he lacks the wild card here. My Idea of the wild card is that it lets you use multiple Persona from every arcana.
> 
> Also, as someone who has actually played Shin Megami Tensei, I can conform that’s how negotiations play out in the games.


	6. Chris the Car

Lunch came around and Kotone decided to catch up with Junpei and Minato, who was now wearing a white detective hat.

“Why do you guys keep insisting that it’s specifically a detective’s hat?” Minato asked.

“Because it makes you look like a detective!” Junpei retorted.

“He’s right,” Kotone agreed, “it’s almost like your family is full of them.”

“You are aware that I’m an orphan, right?”

Junpei grimaced, “Wait, don’t you live in an apartment?”

“Yeah? What about it?”

“It’s just…” Junpei frantically thought up another topic, “Kotone, what was up with your sickness?”

Kotone sighed, she was not allowed to tell anyone about her joining SEES or what happened on that night. She had awakened her Persona, Eurydice, and fought off a monster known as a shadow before getting rescued by Misturu and Akihiko. She passed out that night and was in a short term coma for two days. She was then introduced to SEES yesterday and was told about the Dark Hour, Shadows, and was then offered to join them in their fight against them.

“It’s a secret...”

“Whatever…”

The world suddenly froze around Kotone as a familiar voice rang through her head.

**Thou art I... And I am thou...**

**Thou hast established a new bond...**

**Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Death Arcana…**

Lunch ended and school resumed as normal.

///

Minato sat in Akemi’s apartment with his detective gear on and waited for the Dark Hour to come around.

“I never did ask, but why did you become a demon summoner?” Minato asked Akemi who turned his head to look at him.

“Most people don’t choose to be a demon summoner, it’s just something that happens thanks to circumstances. As for me...” Akemi looked back at the COMP he was moddifying.

_ A teenage boy stood in front of the burning orphanage that he once called his home as the screams of the other children rang through his ears. He turned to a demon possessing a girl who smirked at the chaos that it instigated before floating away into the darkness. _

“You have a sister, right?” Akemi asked, hoping to move to a different subject.

“Yeah, why do you ask?”

“...Make sure you cherish every moment.”

Minato raised an eyebrow, “Uh, sure?”

Akemi pulled out a list and handed it to his guest.

“I’ve compiled a list of current events that you could investigate. I also threw in a few locations that could help you in fighting demons.”

“Why does one of the locations include a note saying to collect the milk?”

“Because it started to look like a shopping list and I decided to commit to it...”

“Of course you would…”

Minato read through the list a second time and found one of interest.

‘The Phantom Car:

Civilians have been found to be roadkill through mysterious means. I’d say that it must be a hit and runner that somehow strikes during the dark hour. Therefore, we might have a phantom that might be murdering people with a car. Or it could be a demonic car, that could work as well.’

_ ‘Really? You even put in mission briefings? You are such a weirdo… But in the very least, this incident might give me clues on what happened that night.’ _

Akemi got up from his chair and searched through a drawer. He pulled out a revolver and some bullets before offering them to Minato.

“You know how to use a gun?” Minato nodded prompting a groan from Akemi, “That was supposed to be a rhetorical question!...Right...I forgot about that...you know, for being a heir to a prestigious family, you sure don’t act like one.”

“My sister is better in continuing the family name than I am.”

“Should I tell him...” Akemi asked himself

“Tell me what?”

“Uh...sorry but the Dark Hour is starting soon.”

Minato shrugged, took the gun and stuffed it into his pocket, and left the apartment. Akemi went back to work on the COMP as the Dark Hour drew near.

“One of the few alternate versions of Makoto with a family still alive and he doesn’t feel like he belongs with them. Stephen, why did you give me such knowledge if it’s just going to taunt me.” he muttered as he rigged the power source, “I was expecting this to take longer to finish but I’m almost done with this. I guess that could mean that I can finally summon demons in the Dark Hour soon. Actually, I haven’t seen a single demon outside the Dark Hour ever since they started roaming that time this year. Did they move?”

Akemi’s thoughts lingered as he continued to work.

///

Minato walked around town and noticed the distinct lack of demons roaming around the area. He looked over an alleyway to see a group of demons lying on the floor covered in tire tracks. The detective followed the trail of flattened demons and eventually found himself in front of Tartaraus. Considering the fact that there’s no need to go inside at the moment, he merely moved away from the tower and continued his search unaware of the gate being open.

Minato continued his walk before the sound of an engine started to fade in. From there he saw a red Plymouth Fury sitting next to a gas station.

“So much for that, I’m pretty sure none of the cars I saw that night looked nothing like this. The only question I have is why does this car even work?”

He opened the front lid and saw that it contained a regular car engine. The lid closed on it’s own and the car started to rev up. Minato stepped to the side as the Plymouth Fury drove off, made a U-turn and made a dash towards the teen.

‘Demon: Chris the Car, Foul Race, Lovers Arcana.’

Minato dodged out of the way and summoned a Persona.

**“Orpheus! Rakunda!”**

The car’s defence decreased as it made another U-turn. The car made a mad dash towards Minato who countered with an Agi, making it explode as well as the gas station. The force sent the teen flying and he landed on the curve. He took a look at the burning car which gave off the familiar smell of burning oil.

_ A younger Minato stares at the burning corpses of his parents as his unconscious sister laid beside him. _

Minato unconsciously summoned Angel to cast Patra, getting rid of the panic that was forming. Realizing what he had done, he casted Garu and got rid of the fire. The car was still burnt and somehow able to keep moving. Minato decided to move away from the gas station to lure the car into a more deserted area. Once he had done so, he pulled out his gun and shot the tires.

The car stopped moving and Minato smirked.

“Looks like that’s done and over with...”

The car’s tires started to repair themselves and eventually the car looked the same as the start of the fight, baffling Minato.

“This thing can regenerate, what a pain...”

The car rammed towards him again only for Minato to counter with another Garu spell, tilting it over on the back side. He readied his sword and bashed the car until there was nothing left to regenerate. He took the car’s steering wheel and went back to Akemi’s apartment.

///

Akemi turned to the door to see Minato return with a steering wheel in his hands.

“Do I even want to know what happened?”

“Um… No, no you don’t...”

“Ok then… In other news, Modifying the COMP went by faster than expected and now it’s done.”

“Are you serious?”

“I’m just as surprised as you are. Turns out I miscalculated how long it would take. So now I can help you with your exploration.”

“Whatever...” Minato set down the sword and gun only to realize something. “Hold on a second, why do you have a gun!? Aren’t they illegal for citizens here!?”

“Believe it or not, My undercover job is a policeman. They know I can experience the Dark Hour without any problem so they let me use it for those purposes. Also, you ask me this now and not when I gave it to you?!”

“It didn’t cross my mind then!”

“Yeah that sounds about right.” Akemi handed Minato 20,000 yen and a soda in exchange for the steering wheel.

“So was the demon riding the car or was it the car itself?” Akemi asked.

“It was the car itself...” Minato revealed

“I forgot about that demon, It’s been years since I last saw Chris the Car.”

“How long?”

“Let’s see… I was 14 when I last fought it so… seven years ago.” Akemi said while thinking back to the horrors of his first adventure.

“14?”

“I had a shitty childhood...”

“Did you have anyone guiding you?”

“I had a man named Stephen who told me everything I needed to know, gave me a working COMP while I was stuck in a hell dimension and left me with a severe cause of Information overload.”

“How bad?”

“I still didn’t get half the things he said the first time so after my first quest finished, he left me with this booklet.” He pulled a booklet from a drawer and took a deep breath, “I still don’t get everything.”

“Who is Stephen again?” Minato asked.

“First of all, don’t fight him, you’ll never get a good hit in and you’ll amuse him at most. Second of all, he’s the man who perfected the Demon Summoning Program as he added features that prevent another Jusho High incident.”

“...How strong is he?”

“...” Akemi just looks like he’s experiencing war flashbacks. 

_ ‘How was I supposed to know he didn’t really need the wheelchair? Oh god he smirked on the first move. Oh god he can pierce through all my resistances! Fuck! My demons are dead. Shit! NO! IS HE EVEN USING A PERCENT OF HIS POWER!?’ _

“Do you really need to know?” He asked, sounding shooken up.

“N-No, I think I’ll uh...I think I’ll just leave...”

“Yeah that sounds about that.”

The two silently agreed to never speak of Stephen unless needed.

///

_ Minato Arisato Log 6 [April 14, 2009] _

_ Akemi finally finished the COMP and he told me that he’ll now join me in my explorations. And that’s all we talked about, there was nothing else of interest in that conversation. Stephen, who’s Stephen? I don’t know any Stephen… _

_ Akemi told me to cherish my moments that I had with my sister. I don’t know why, but I guess I could do that. I remember one time before the death of our parents when an old friend of mine found out about this weird game and she wanted to try it out with me and my sister. That game involved having the participants standing in a circle and then walking around the room while- I’m describing Master Persona Incarnation aren’t I? _

_ Akemi mentioned that some Persona users are tied to the game so that would mean… Oh… Naoto’s a Persona user isn’t she?... Fuck… _

_ Current Persona: _

_ Orpheus _

_ Bash, Agi, Rakunda _

_ Angel _

_ Garu, Parta, Sukukaja _

///

_ Akemi’s Log starting… now! _

_ Well I’m going to have nightmare’s for a week, thank’s a lot Minato… _

_ I swear I don’t care what it takes, I’m going to make sure Minato lives to return to his sister. I’m sure his prime universe equivalent would’ve wanted the same… Even if Prime Makoto doesn’t have any siblings. Prime Makoto’s hair color is also a much brighter blue as well. Is the Amala Multiverse really sure that they’re supposed to be equivalents? I still don’t understand the great will. _

_ Is it bad that I kind of want to make Minato a Demon Summoner? I know that traditionally, Makoto is purely a Persona user and in most cases, he would be a Wild Card. But he could probably fit in if I try hard enough. Hmm, but then he would have to deal with conflicts between Law and Chaos… Forget I said anything…  _

_ Demons at my disposal: _

_ For Minato’s explorations: _

_ Oberon _

_ Zio, Media, Mazio, Zan-ei, Zionga _

_ Berith _

_ Agi, Tarukaja, Double Fangs, Auto-Tarukaja, Maragi, Rebellion _

_ Lilim _

_ Marin Karin, Agi, Zio, Rakukaja, Mudo, Mazio _

_ Sandman _

_ Zan, Pulinpa, Kill Rush, Dekaja _

_ Apsaras _

_ Bufu, Posumudi, Sukunda _

_ For actually challenging fights:  _

_ Decarabia _

_ Stagnant Air, Matarunda, Megido, Marakukaja, Mamudo, Resist Ice, Garula, Masukakaja _

_ Abaddon _

_ Null Pierce, Weary Thrust, High Counter, Mabufula, Ice Amp, Null Slash, Marakunda, Absorb Strike _

_ Throne _

_ Hamaon, Hama Boost, Mahamaon, Counter, Mediarahan, Resist Dark, Endure Dark, Recarmdra _

_ Loki _

_ Apt Pupil, Garudyne, Bufudyne, Mahama, Maragidyne, Repel Fire, Matarunda, Megidola _

_ Black Frost _

_ Mudo, Agilao, Bufula, Marakukaja, Matarakaja, Ice Boost, Dekunda, Hama _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ///
> 
> Setting up Akemi’s demons was a nightmare, I actually went on a fusing spree in order to get the moves I want for each demon. A common thing in Megaten games is that most of your money is spent on the compendium so you can give demons all the good moves that they can’t normally learn.
> 
> I also decided to stop being coy about Minato’s surname because I think by this point it’s clear that this is a very different Minato/Makoto.
> 
> On a side note, what do you think of Akemi? Do you like him or not? I would like to hear your guy’s opinions on him.


	7. Demon Bar House

Minato stepped out of his apartment and was greeted by Akemi who was wearing a police uniform.

“Morning Minato! Meet me at the police station after school okay?”

“What’s this about?”

“You’ll see...”

Minato squinted at him and walked down the stairs.

///

Lunch came around leaving Kotone to talk with Yukari, both teenagers looking really tired. Their classmate Minato happened to walk by and took a look at the both of them.

“The hell happened with you two?”

Yukari’s eye twitched, “Aren’t you normally the tired one?”

“I was done with my job sooner.”

“What job?”

Minato lost eye contact and replied, “A job at Wild Duck Burger?”

Junpei yelled across the room, “He’s lying! He went back home immediately!”

“Damnit Junpei...Ok, you keep your secrets, I’ll keep mine...got it?”

Kotone nodded and the world froze again as a booming voice ran through her head.

**The Death Arcana has ranked up**

Kotone expected the world to return to normal but instead a young boy phased into existence.

“Hi, how are you?”

“Uh, I’m doing good?”

The boy gave out a soft smile, “You seem nice...I hope to see you again soon...”

The boy faded away and the booming voice returned.

**The Death Arcana has been overwritten by a higher power, your Death social link is now connected with the mysterious boy.**

The world returned to normal and Kotone was greeted by Yukari waving her hand over her face.

“Hey, you don’t look too good...are you alright?”

“I’m fine...”

Lunch ended and school went by as the lingering thought ran through Kotone’s head.

_‘Did I even start a social link with Arisato to begin with?’_

///

School ended and Minato walked to the police station immediately. He entered the station and found Akemi talking with another policeman.

“Ok Akemi, what’s this about?”

The other policeman looked over at him, “Is this him?”

Akemi nodded, “Officer Kurosawa, this is Arisato Minato. Minato, this is Officer Kurosawa.”

Kurosawa shook Minato’s hand, “Pleasure to meet you, I’ve heard of some of your feats.”

“Such as?”

“Well I heard you took down the Phantom Car case that has had us stumped for a wild. If only it didn’t cost us that gas station.”

“Right, that wasn’t exactly my brightest moment...”

Akemi leaned against the wall, “Kurosawa will provide you with some equipment for when we go out. Should make it harder for you to die that way.”

His fellow Officer squinted at him, “I’d say that you are more likely to die out there with that attitude.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep my badge on me so you’ll be able to identify my corpse.”

“You’re not helping your case Nakajima.”

The door opened and Minato turned to see Junpei, Kotone, and an upperclassman standing there.

“Sup dude, how’s it going?” Junpei grinned at him.

“What are you doing here?”

Akemi looked at the three newcomers, “Are these some of you classmates?”

“Unfortunately, yes...”

“Well Junior Detective, I’ll wish you luck on socializing.”

“Hold on a second, I’m-”

“Sorry! I have to go know! See you later!” Akemi slid past the door, “Have a good day.”

“Junior Detective huh?”

_‘Roll with it...’_

“Don’t tell anyone about this...”

The upperclassman nodded, “Your secret’s safe with us. Name’s Sanda Akihiko by the way.”

“Arisato Minato, I have to catch up with my-” Minato’s throat started burning up a little, “Senior Detective, if you don’t mind.”

“Alright, you do that.”

Minato nodded and left the station.

“So that’s what he meant by a job at Wild Duck Burger...” Junpei spoke up.

“Did he really say that?” Kotone asked, a bit bewildered by the sight.

Akihiko turned to the Officer rubbing his head, “What was that about?”

“That was Nakajima Akemi, He was recommended to us by Officer Niijima down over in Tokyo. Apparently they felt that he needed to be placed in another city after the march incident. He came in here because he had taken in an apprentice of his own and he wanted him registered.”

“Doesn’t sound like he’s very well liked.”

“No he’s perfectly fine, he’s just a very unique person.”

“Well then, I guess I should explain why we’re here.” Akihiko turned to his younger allies and explained to the two about Kurosawa’s services.

///

Kotone left the police station with Junpei after she had bought her weapon. Junpei looked at his budget.

“Only 5,000 yen... I’m gonna take off… I’ll see you later...”

Junpei left Kotone alone as she wondered what to do next. She noticed a blue glow coming from behind the stairs and walked on over. She found a blue door and opened it.

She found herself back at the velvet room where Igor greeted her.

“Welcome to the velvet room, what can I do for you?”

“I would like to fuse Pixie and Apsaras.”

The two fused into Nekomata who gained Dia from the fusion.

“Anything else?”

“Yes, I want to know who my death social link is connected to.”

“Let’s see...Ah yes, it’s connected to two people just like the fool social link is connected to four.” He pulled out a card and showed it to her.

**Death Rank 2**

**Unwanted Schoolmates**

**Mysterious Boy, Arisato Minato**

“So I have a social link with Arisato then?”

“In a way, yes...Although it seems that the link is more connected towards the other boy.”

“This is confusing...”

“I had never expected a social link to end up in such a way. You’re going to have to figure this out on your own if you want the answer.”

“I was afraid you would say that.”

She bid Igor and the attendants farewell and left the velvet room.

///

Minato changed into his detective gear and went to Akemi’s apartment to see him wearing a set of clothing he hadn’t seen him wear before. He wore a dark grey trench coat with slacks and shoes sporting the same color. His COMP was placed on his left arm which was hooked up to the goggles on his forehead.

“Why did you leave me behind back there?”

“Because I didn’t want normal civilians hearing about demons and promptly freaking out… unless they were actually persona users and I didn’t notice.”

“What’s the chance of that?”

“I’d say the chance would be 3.1415926-”

“It’s Pi%, got it...”

Akemi checked his watch, “The Dark Hour should start in 15 minutes. In the meantime, I’ll give you the rundown.” He and Minato sat down on the table. “You know that one club over at the mall right?”

“You mean Club Escapade?”

“Yeah, that one...corpses are being found hanging from the ceiling with a collar around their neck tied to some chains. When I went to investigate it while you were at school, I noticed some signs that demons were present in the area.”

“So this isn’t just an assumption this time?”

“M-My previous cases had some backing evidence to them!”

“Such as?”

“...Shut up and grab your sword...”

Minato grabbed his short sword as Akemi grabbed a katana and a pistol. The Dark Hour drew near and the two left the apartment.

///

The two arrived at the mall and entered Club Escapade. The place was emptied out with the exception of the coffins that were unawake residents who were probably getting drunk like there’s no tomorrow.

Akemi walked up the stairs and checked for any chains on the ceiling, “I don’t see any chains around here...”

Minato stared at the ceiling, “Maybe you were wrong about this being caused by demons? Akemi, what’s your-” Minato turned to where Akemi was supposed to be only to see that he’s missing, “Akemi? Where did you-”

Minato was interrupted by a collar snapping around his neck before getting dragged away to the darkness.

As he was getting dragged, his surroundings started to distort until he slid into a new room. The chain attached to the collar rose up to the ceiling and attached itself there. Minato stood and saw Akemi trying to pry off the collar off his neck. He looked around the room to see that there were demons in the same situation that they were in. One of them staring down at Akemi, even with their face being covered.

‘Preta, Haunt Race, Hermit Arcana.’

‘Knocker. Jirae Race, Hierophant Arcana.’

‘Dwarf, Jirae Race, Tower Arcana.’

‘Elf, Fairy Race, Lovers Arcana.’

‘Lilim, Night Race, Devil Arcana.’

‘Yomotsu-Ikusa, Brute Race, Hanged Man Arcana.’

‘Take-Mikazuchi, Amatsu Race, Emperor Arcana’

_‘Seriously, how do I know the names for these demons?’_

Minato’s thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a loud thud. Everyone turned to see a demon that wasn’t chained to the ceiling.

‘Troll, Fairy Race, Hermit Arcana.’

The troll was standing on a pedestal next to a wheel while he held a set of buttons.

“Welcome to Demon Bar House, the show where our contestants’ lives are determined by this wheel over here.” The troll brought attention to the wheel and Minato starred in bewilderment.

 _‘Is this supposed to be some kind of fucked up TV show for demons?’_ Minato thought before seeing cameras in different sections in the room. _‘That answers that question...’_

“For those who don’t know how this game works, here’s how it goes. Each player has the wheel spun for them to see what challenge they have to do. If they succeed, they get to move on. If not… Well, I think that should be a surprise. Last one standing shall be the winner.”

Lilim looked over to Minato, “If you find a way to get us out of this, I’ll sign a contract with you...”

Minato blinked, “Um...Ok...”

“Promise?” Lilim offered her hand.

Minato returned the handshake, “Yeah...”

A room darkened and a light shined down on Minato.

“First up, Mr. Arisato Minato!”

The wheel spun for a while until it stopped.

**Tarot Cards**

A table materialized in front of Minato.

“For this challenge, the player must draw from one of 22 tarot cards. If the card is Death, they lose...” the Troll explained.

Minato pulled a card from the table. ‘Fool’

“Minato is safe! The next time this challenge comes up, there will be less cards.”

The table disappeared and the room dimmed again, the spotlight now pointing at the Knocker.

“Next up is this Knocker over here!”

“I have a name you know!”

The wheel spun and then stopped.

**Shortest Straw**

A cup materialized in front of the Knocker.

“Every player must draw a random straw out of this cup. Whoever has the shortest one is the loser”

Every player took turns to pull out a straw before comparing them. The one with the shortest one is-

“ME!?” Preta yelled out.

“That’s right! Preta will now be executed!”

The chain pulled Preta up to the ceiling where he slowly choked to death. The life in his eyes left him as his arms slumped down.

Minato turned to Akemi, “I highly doubt this guy was able to set all this up.”

“So you’re saying someone else designed this?”

“That’s what I’m thinking...”

“And after that display, let’s move on to Lilim!”

**Skip**

The Troll looked dumbfounded before shaking his head.

“Ok! Ikusa! Don’t disappoint us!”

The wheel spun again, landing back on Tarot Cards.

The demon picked ‘Hermit’ and was thus spared.

“Next up, Lilim… again...”

_‘Didn’t she already go? I’m guessing that this is random...’_

**Pick a Card**

The Troll stepped up to Lilim and pulled out two cards.

“Pick a card, any card...”

Lilim picked the left card and found a Joker in her hands. Instead of being sent to the ceiling, she was suddenly set on fire. The demon screamed for a while before collapsing, dangling on the chain. It didn’t help that she was facing Minato by the time the fire died out.

The Troll didn’t leave a moment of silence and moved on.

“Seriously? He couldn’t give me a better system? Ikusa, You’re up again.”

 _‘So there is a mastermind to this whole thing...’_ Akemi thought to himself.

**Spin the Bottle**

All the remaining players were dragged into a circle formation where a bottle was placed in the center.

“Whoever the bottle points to will get executed.”

The bottle was spun before pointing at the Elf. She was then lifted up to the ceiling where her neck snapped from the speed it happened in.

“Nakajima Akemi, you’re up!”

“Great...”

He got ‘Pick a Card’ and got an ace.

“Ok Nakajima, You get to go again!”

“What!? Who made this game!?”

The wheel spun again and landed.

**Death Match**

A battle arena was formed and Akemi was given back his katana and pistol. Yomostu-Ikusa was dragged to the opposite side of the arena.

“The Rules are simple, the two of you have to fight until one of you dies. Humans are not allowed to summon demons, and demons are not allowed to use magic. That is all”

 _‘There are some rules he didn’t accommodate for and I’m fighting a Yomotsu-Ikusa.’_ Akemi smirked as he put his gun in his pocket and readied his sword.

Ikusa started speaking in reverse as he looked at Akemi, “ギナザイ...”

The demon charged at him prompting a swift dodge to the side as Akemi aimed his right index finger point blank at his opponent’s stomach and smirked. 

**“Zanma...”**

Akemi’s hair flashed white for a split second and a wind bullet fired from his finger, went through Ikusa’s stomach, and hit the Troll’s hand, dropping the remote in the process. Akemi zipped to the remote, grabbed it then pressed the release button, and then used his katana to destroy the remote.

“Should have said that you couldn’t be attacked...”

Everyone was released from the collars with the corpses hitting the ground. All the contestants except Minato ran out the door, leaving him to pick up his sword and summon Orpheus to cast Agi. The demon stumbled back to the ground, allowing the two to stab the demon in the heart. The Troll’s breath seized, and his eyes rolled back.

The two retracted their swords and stepped back.

“Should we destroy the wheel as well?” Akemi looked over to Minato.

“No… I’m taking this as a souvenir...” Minato took the wheel of the stand and held it under his shoulder. “Should we get going?”

“Yes, I’m getting sick of this hell dimension...”

“This is a hell dimension?”

“Why else would these chains work.”

“Fair point...”

Akemi walked out the door with Minato following suit. Minato stopped after Akemi left and looked at the burnt corpse of Lilim.

“So much for keeping that promise...”

Minato turned back to the door and left the room.

///

_Minato Arisato Log 7 [April 15, 2009]_

_Have you ever felt like you made a promise that you could never keep? I think I just experienced that this dark hour. I had promised a Lilim that I would find a way out only for her to burn to death. After that I felt like I was in autopilot until Akemi’s turn came up. I can believe that I’m saying this, but thank God...Izanagi that he picked the right card because I might have gone berserk if I failed two people to that same fucking card minigame. I only took the wheel as a reminder of the promise that I failed._

_I’ve learned that Akemi can use magic thanks to that stun he pulled to get us out. As much as I want to get mad at him for hiding that ability until now… I can’t get mad at him… He probably thought he didn’t need to use it until now. I’m also too exhausted to care at this point so there’s also that. I’m going to have to hide this while I’m at school. I’ll just say I had a rough night._

_The one boy that greeted me in my first night is currently in my room trying to cheer me up. Apparently he took a liking to my classmate Kotone and is somehow able to speak with her… don’t ask me how that works. Hold on, he wants to write something in here so give me a second._

_So this is a journal? How interesting…I’ve remembered something so I thought I should write it here. Soon, the end will come...I don’t remember much, but everything will come to the end. I’ll keep watching you, even if you forget about me._

_The end huh?_

_My Personas:_

_Orpheus_

_Bash, Agi, Rakunda, Maragi, Dia_

_Angel:_

_Garu, Parta, Sukukaja_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I created 15 different events for this chapter, and only six of them showed up. I can tell if I over compensated or not.
> 
> I think I’m going to skip a few days in the story, because if I don’t we’ll be in April for ten more chapters and I don’t want that.
> 
> Question for the chapter, what did you think about the Demon Bar House? Was it good? Was it bad? I’d like to know.


	8. Jack Ripper

Sundays were always the least interesting day of the week for Akemi ever since he joined the police force. It’s the day he gets off and due to his lack of friends, he has nothing to do. Most of the time he would play Devil Busters on his famicom, Devil Busters I-F will always be the best in the series damnit! So he hooked up his CRT in the empty corner of his living room, inserted the cart into the famicom, and booted up a new game, stopping for food breaks.

Minato came into the apartment, greeted Akemi, and then sat down on a chair.

“Playing Devil Busters?”

“Yeah...”

“Make sure you...”

“Yeah I know, analyze over here to get the best sword.”

“How many times have you played this game?”

“This is my 49th playthrough...”

“49!? I only played this game twice!”

“This was one of the four games we had at the orphanage, of course I played this game a lot.”

This was new, “You’re an orphan?” Minato asked.

“My parents left me and my twin sister at an orphanage when we were four. My sister was the only family I had left at that time, yeah she could be a jerk sometimes but she had a good heart. She would’ve liked you for sure.”

“Would’ve?”

“I haven’t seen her since we were fourteen...”

_The teen chased the demon possessed girl with a COMP in his arm. The demon went through the portal with the boy following suit. He was now out of the hell dimension… but he couldn’t see his sister anywhere. The boy fell to his knees and started to cry._

Akemi turned off the console, grabbed a cup of water and sat on a chair. “Quick question, are you still down about that broken promise you made with that Lilim?”

“It’s what it represents that upsets me. It’s a reminder that every promise I made was broken.”

“It can't be that bad can it?” Akemi took a sip from his water.

“Hold on, I’m pulling out the list.”

Akemi ran to the kitchen sink, spat out his drink, and then turned to Minato, “What!?”

Minato pulled out his journal as Akemi sat back down. He flipped open to the desired page.

“The first promise I made was with my best friend from elementary just before I moved to Inaba, it was to call her when I get there.”

“That doesn’t seem too hard.”

“I lost her phone number during the move.”

“Oh...”

“Next was with my aunt and uncle to never go to Port Island, broke that one along with never sneaking out.”

“I’m guessing that one is how you got here?”

“Yep, maybe I should have stayed in Tokyo if I wanted to avoid all this.”

Akemi hummed to himself, _‘He probably did in another timeline.’_

“How many broken promises do you have on there?” Akemi almost went for another sip but stopped himself at the last second.

“About 87...”

“87!? Please tell me we’re not gonna go through every one of them!”

“I’ll read you one more and that’s it. So you know that my grandfather had me help him with cases right?”

“Yeah I recall you mentioning that.”

“Ok, so when I started getting involved, I made a promise to my little sister that we would be a detective duo.”

Akemi raised an eyebrow, “You can still do that can you?”

Minato got where he was coming from, however, he had a reason for why he considered the promise to be broken already. _‘But I’m not going to tell him what I will do after I learn what was the actual cause of my parents’ deaths.’_

“Simply put, I think she would do a better job if I wasn’t there. I’m horrible when it comes to detective work and more often than not, I end up the hostage.”

“How bad could it be?” _‘Shut up Akemi! You know how bad it’s gonna be!’_

“There was a time when I was the prime investigator, I got kidnapped and Naoto had to use her detective skills to find me. I was very much unconscious at that time, but it was pretty obvious what happened.”

“Welcome to the club...happened to me twice back in march...in a single day...”

“So who helped you out then?”

“My fellow officer, Niijima, had to rescue me two times before he decided to send me to the Port Island police force because this was a safer city. Little did he know, he sent me to the city where Tartarus resides.”

“And then I ran away to here and then we both started a partnership.”

“Detective agency!” Akemi corrected.

“Whatever...”

Akemi took a sip, “Do you have any fond memories with your family?”

“Let’s see…” Minato let out a smile, “when I was 6, my parents took Naoto and I to Tokyo Destinyland during our summer break...I doubt she remembers the trip, but I remember a lot from that visit. I remember being upset about being too short to ride the bigger rides at the time.”

“But you’re still pretty short...”

“Shut up! Let me have this!” Akemi let out a chuckle as Minato glared at him. “As I was saying...there was also that time when we took photos with the mascots, which are now ruined for me now that I know that there are demonic versions of the characters I grew up with. Thanks for that by the way...”

“Hey, I actually had to fight those demons during an investigation. Thank you very much. You weren't the one being chased by a duck with a chainsaw.”

“Whatever… what about you? were there any fond memories you had with your sister?”

“Let’s see, there was one time when she had the, oh so brilliant, idea to have the two of us dress up as mailman and then place fake letters into the mailboxes in our neighborhood. There was nothing written on those letters, but she thought it would be funny. The disguises were lousy and we were caught before we could even send a single envelope.”

“What were your punishments for doing that?”

“Two weeks sweeping the same streets we were going to prank. I pretty much glared at her during the whole thing… It was the dumbest idea we ever had.”

“Not as dumb as me going to Tartarus with a baseball bat and expecting nothing bad to happen...”

“Hmm...there’s still a place I need to show you.” Akemi stood up and walked to his desk.

“And, that is?”

Akemi picked up his COMP and grinned, “You’ll see...”

///

Akemi and Minato stood in front of a cathedral that was sitting in a secluded part of the island. The building had flags plastered over the windows with an upside down star as its symbol.

Minato crossed his arms, “Is this the place?”

“Yep, welcome to the Cathedral of Shadows...unless this is the Heretic Mansion…”

“Is there a difference I should know?” Minato asked.

“No, the name just likes to change every once in a while, it serves the same purpose either way.” Akemi opened the door and turned to Minato, “Should we go in?”

Minato nodded and followed him inside.

The cathedral was dark with Minato barely being able to see a man that stood in front of a glowing hexagram on the floor surrounded by pods on each point.

The man spoke up, “Welcome to the Cathedral of Shadows, how may I help you?”

Akemi showed the man the COMP, “I would like to fuse some of my demons.”

Minato raised an eyebrow at this conversation wondering why he is even here to begin with.

Akemi turned to Minato, “I should explain the purpose of this place, you are able to fuse demons and in turn, create a stronger one as long as they match your strength or if they’re weaker. The cathedral is meant for this purpose but it has yet to be tested if you could fuse Personas here.”

The man spoke again, “What demons will you be fusing this time?”

Akemi’s eyes started to glow before giving an answer, “Oberon and Berith...”

The man lifted his right hand and a string of lighting came down onto the COMP and two demons were summoned into two separate pods as the unused ones sunk down. A surge of electricity formed above the circle and connected the two together, electrocuting the demons in the process. The demons vaporized and the bolt of light crashed down onto the star and in its place was a new demon.

“I am Ares of the Fury Race, I am at your command...”

Ares transformed into electricity and jumped onto Akemi’s COMP before he confirmed the demon’s presence in the summoning program. Akemi looked to Minato to see a baffled face coming from him.

“Isn’t that a little extreme?”

Akemi shrugged, “Could’ve been worse.” Akemi turned back to the man. “I would now like to fuse Apsaras and Sandman.”

The two were fused resulting in the creation of Unicorn.

“That will be all for now.” Akemi’s eyes returned to normal.

The man looked over to Minato, “What about this young gentleman?”

“Oh, this is Arisato Minato, he’s a Persona user. I was wondering if you are able to fuse Personas as well.”

The man rubbed his chin, “Perhaps, lets see what I can fuse for you.”

Minato’s eyes glowed for a moment before reverting, “I can’t fuse any Persona that matches my arcana.”

“Very well, I’ll see you when the time comes.”

Minato and Akemi left the cathedral for the time being.

///

Nighttime came around and Minato got dressed into his ‘uniform’ before leaving his apartment. He was greeted by Akemi who was dressed in his uniform while holding two umbrella sleeves. It took Minato a second to realize what he was doing.

“You have our swords in thoses don’t you?”

“How can you tell?”

“Shut up and tell me our next case.”

Akemi chuckled as he handed Minato a note.

‘ **The Jack Ripper Murders:**

No, not that Jack the Ripper. This is a series of murders that happen exactly at midnight meaning that the dark hour is involved somehow. The victims died from a slash on their throat and the loss of their organs. The method is similar to the murders caused by a killer named Jack the Ripper which is why this case is named as such.’

“So we’re investigating murders?” Minato asked, stuffing the note into his pocket.

“It’s not as crazy as the Demon Bar House but it’ll allow us to recruit demons into Personas. The Dark Hour should be arriving soon so get your pocket watch ready.”

Minato pulled out his watch and pressed the button as the Dark Hour drew near. Akemi uncovered the swords and gave Minato his before the two went down the stairs.

///

Minato walked up to the Preta and smiled.

“Excuse me, would you like to hear me out? I’m in need of ailes and I can’t help but notice that you are alone. Will you help me in my quest?”

The Preta crossed his arms and tapped his foot, “What’s in it for me?”

Minato pulled out a life stone, “Will this suffice?” Minato tossed it to the demon who smiled upon catching the stone.

“I’m in your care...” the demon transformed into a card that Minato snatched from the air before disappearing.

Akemi walked over to Minato, “That’s four new contracts, how many of those can you use?”

“I got Preta, Will-o-Wisp, Nekomata, and Ara Mitama...The only one I can use from those four is Will-o-Wisp.”

“Not a spectacular demon, but you can just fuse it away into something better.”

“I hope I can fuse it away, it has an awful moveset.”

The two were interrupted by a scream coming from one of the buildings. They ran inside and found a woman cornered by a skeletal man wearing a hat and trench coat while holding a knife.

‘Demon: Jack Ripper, Foul Race, Hanged Man Arcana.’

Jack Ripper stood on top of a corpse of a man whose throat was slit and was covered in his own blood. Minato rushed to the demon and slashed at the demon, only for it to jump out of the way. The woman took this chance to run into the closet and hide from the demon while it was focusing on the two fighters.

Jack twirled his knife on his finger, “I was about to get into a good slice before you two came in, He Ho...” the demon took a better look at Minato, “Blue hair...grey eyes...looks depressed… you must be the one who destroyed my brother’s statue, He Ho!” Jack pointed at the boy accusingly.

Akemi raised an eyebrow, “What’s so special about a dinky statue, He Ho?”

Jack gripped his knife tightly, “EVERYTHING!!! I’m gonna cut a hole into your stomachs, He Ho!”

Akemi readied his sword, “I like to see you try, Ho!”

Minato glanced at his partner, “Why are you speaking in He’s and Ho’s?”

“Shut up and get ready, He!”

Jack tossed a knife at the two only to miss by a hair. Dodging this knife, Minato countered by summoning Angel to increase Akemi’s speed. Akemi typed down Unicorn’s name onto the COMP, summoning the demon onto the battlefield. The unicorn charged at Jack Ripper and tackled him into the ground. Akemi ran up to his opponent and cut off it’s head.

Akemi dismissed the unicorn and looked at the closet that hid the woman.

“The killer’s dead, you can come out now.”

After a brief moment, the woman came out of the closet with tears in her eyes. The woman walked over to the man’s corpse and held his bloody head.

“We should leave her be...” Akemi spoke softly.

“Are you sure?”

Akemi nodded, “She won’t remember what happened on this night.”

The two walk out the building to leave the woman to mourn.

///

“Welcome to the Cathedral of Shadows. How may I help you in this dark time?”

Minato’s eyes started to glow, “Can you fuse Nekomata and Ara Mitama...”

A surge of electricity struck Minato before two cards were placed in the pods. The cards transformed into their corresponding demons and the two vaporized from the electricity forming in the middle. The surge crashed down on the star revealing a familiar demon.

“I am Lilim of the Devil Arcana, I am in your care...”

The demon transformed into a card and went into Minato while Akemi raised an eyebrow.

“Lilim?”

“It was a pure coincidence...”

The strange man spoke up, “There is something that you should know about when deciding your fusions...” the man waved his hand and a book materialized in front of him. “This is the Demonic Compendium. You can use this to bring back contracts you no longer have access to. Of course you would have to pay a fee.”

“That could be helpful… I would like to fuse Preta, Will O’ Wisp, and Orpheus.”

The three were fused together resulting in the creation of a new Persona.

“I am Sarutobi Sasuke of the Fool Arcana, I am in your care...”

The Persona transferred into Minato’s subconscious and his eyes returned to normal.

Minato and Akemi left the cathedral and returned home just before the Dark Hour ended.

///

_Minato Arisato Log 8 [April 19, 2009]_

_Fusion is a headache, Akemi has it lucky due to his COMP being the medium to summon. Meanwhile, I get electrocuted whenever I have to fuse my Personas because they’re supposed to be manifestations of thought. Therefore, I’m the medium. My mind is still numb from fusing two new Personas so forgive me if I go on a tangent._

_So far I’ve found nothing on what caused the car crash. There were no cars and my father was an expert driver so there has to be something from the outside. Now that I think about it, I think I remember the scenery turning green when I saw the car’s fiery blaze. Did the Dark Hour start on that same night? Why am I only now remembering this detail?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to include fusion somehow. My solution just required pain from Minato.
> 
> The Jack Ripper case was something that I planned from even before I thought about using Akemi in this story.


	9. Blackout Factory

“I didn’t think they still roamed outside the Dark Hour…”

Akemi looked over the case files given to him by Kurosawa. A demon was found in a factory during the daytime by some workers before mauling them to death. The factory has been emptied out from workers and an hour later the place has been locked down with a note being placed on the front gates. The note stated to not go in until midnight which means only one thing.

“This is a job for you Nakajima.”

Akemi sighed, “I’ll text Minato…”

He pulled out his phone and started texting.

///

Nakajima:

.Meet me at the police station

.There’s a case ready for us

Arigane:

I’M EATING OUT WITH 

SOME CLASSMATES AT 

THE MOMENT.

SO PLEASE WAIT…

Nakajima:

?!Why is your text all caps

!?And why is it in romaji

We have kanji and

!katakana for a reason

Arigane:

CAPS LOCK BROKE

MY PHONE IS IMPORTED 

FROM THE USA.

Nakajima:

!Then get a new phone

Arigane:

SORRY, I HAVE TO GO…

Nakajima:

!Minato

!Get back here

///

“Sorry that was my boss.” Minato spoke before closing his flip phone.

“I swear I can hear a grown man yelling in the distance.” Kotone commented, “What did you say to him?”

“You’ll find out if I ever text you guys.”

Junpei scoffed, “That doesn’t sound ominous...” the waiter brought in Kotone and Junpei’s meals but not Minato’s leaving a confused Junpei. “Did you not order anything at all?”

“No, it just takes a while for them to finish preparing my order.”

Kotone shivered, “What do you mean by that?”

The waiter came back with a tray containing 5 cheeseburgers, 3 large fries, 2 small fries, and a large diet soda. Minato unwrapped one of his burgers and took a bite while staring at the baffled faces of his classmates.

Kotone was the brave soul to ask the question in her mind, “...How can you eat all that.”

“Fast metabolism...”

“More importantly, why did you order two small fries?” Junpei asked.

“To go along with my large fries...”

“...You are one of a kind...”

Minato kept munching on his meal while Kotone and Junpei finished theirs first for obvious reasons. Now that Kotone thought about it, this was the first time she had gotten a good look at him.

“Is the blue hair natural?” Kotone asked.

“Yeah, what about it?”

_‘Why does he look like him?’_

“Hold on, that’s natural?!” Junpei questioned

“It’s genetic for some reason.”

“That’s cool… any reason why your hair covers your right eye?”

“No, my hair grew over my face and I liked the result.”

Minato finished off his burger and stood up. “I’ll be going now.”

“OK then, see you later.”

Minato threw away his trash and left the restaurant. 

///

Unknown to the students, a dark figure observes from the shadows at the blue hair boy. The shadow followed the boy into the train while hiding themselves in the corner of the train. The figure gave out a manic grin seeing their target clueless to their presence. Minato got off at his stop while the stalker followed him from the crowd before climbing up the buildings.

The figure hopped building to building while dodging every gaze the boy happens to give. The boy entered their apartment building and left wearing a different set of clothing before making his way to the mall. The figure sat down on their current rooftop and stared at the boy as he entered the mall.

“Soon...”

The figure jumped off the building and went to the store to buy the dullest knife they could find.

///

Minato entered the police station and found Officer Kurosawa reading a novel.

“I’m here for the case.”

Kurosawa opened up the gate to the side, “Nakajima’s in the back.”

“Thank you...”

Minato made his way to the back and was greeted by a paper airplane to the forehead. The airplane fell to his hand allowing him to unravel it.

‘ **Blackout Factory:**

This is the oddest case we’re tackling so far, at least in terms of how it was found. A demon was found at a factory where it slaughtered a couple of workers. After the factory was evacuated, the gate was shut and a note was stuck onto the front door. The note said to not go in until midnight meaning that they expect someone to show up during the Dark Hour. That means us, by the way...’

“How are we going to get our weapons to the factory before midnight?” Minato looked over to Akemi who was holding a guitar case.

“With this bad boy of course!” Akemi patted the case from the side, “I’ve heard that a demon hunter from Europe hides his sword in a guitar case so I thought, ‘Hey, Why don’t I try that?’ So I bought a guitar and case, took some guitar lessons, and here we are now! That guy’s a genius I tell you...”

“You could have just bought the case...”

“...Truth be told, I’ve always wanted to play the guitar...” Akemi started to sweat a bit.

“...”

“Don’t give me that look! We’ll drive to the factory before the dark hour hits, are you ready to leave?”

“Yes...”

The two left the mall and walked to the parking lot. The two went inside Akemi’s car and began to drive to their destination. The road brought them to Moonlight Bridge, bringing a horrid memory to which he had angel cast Patra on himself to avoid panic. The spell has heavily depowered from the summoning being hidden, resulting in the panic being transformed into a headache.

“Akemi, do you know Patra?”

“No, I do not...”

“Damnit...”

_‘Fucking panic attacks...no wonder I take the train…It also means invesigating the car crash will prove to be more difficult...’_

Akemi took a quick glance at the sky, “New moon huh, I forgot to tell you about moon cycles did I...”

“Why would you need to tell me about that?”

“It’s more important to know if you’re a demon summoner but as a Persona user, all it really does is affect a few attacks.”

“I see…”

The car ride brought the duo to the factory’s gates where Minato pulled out his pocket watch as he got out the car.

“So this is the place?” Minato asked Akemi who pulled the guitar case from the car.

“Yep, inside is a demon roaming around like it owns the place. Still odd that this demon didn’t migrate to the Dark Hour.”

“Why do demons roam in the Dark Hour anyways?” Minato asked.

“From what I can tell, it's mostly because they found out that they can get away with anything during the hour without leaving a shred of evidence. The only reason we were able to determine their activity is based on the very specific time their chaos was left at. Before they realized that, they simply hid in hell dimensions that are unknown to the public.”

“So what would happen should the Dark Hour disappear?”

“They would be sent back to hell where they can’t wreak havoc in our world. I’m also looking for a certain demon that I’ve been hunting for from the beginning so doing that would make it easier to find _her_. The problem is that I don’t know how to get rid of the Dark Hour.”

“That’s too bad...” Minato hovered his finger over the button “Is it almost time?”

“Yeah, the Dark Hour will arrive in 3...2...1...”

Minato pressed down on the button to wind up the clock as the Dark Hour drew near. The gate disintegrated as the factory started to rust from the outside. Akemi zipped open the guitar case and handed Minato his sword and gun before taking his. The two proceeded to walk inside the factory.

///

The inside of the factory was pitch black with not a hint of light radiating from the atmosphere.

Akemi struggled to look around, “I can’t see anything in here, you didn’t bring a match did you?”

“No, but I have an idea...” Minato held out his palm upwards and called upon one of his Persona.

**“Orpheus! Agi!”**

A ball of fire spawned over Minato’s hand as Orpheus hovered behind him. He could have used any other Persona but Orpheus was the first one he got, hence why he used the compendium to buy him back. Minato guided his hand near the walls as Akemi followed him. The two explored the place before finding the circuit room. 

The back door shut off as the room around them started to warp. A pair of glowing eyes with snake-like pupils opened up and stared at the two detectives. The glow revealed a demon with sharp teeth and a long body.

‘Demon: Betelgeuse, Fallen Race, Fool Arcana’

The demon lunged at the two before missing and slamming on the wall. Akemi took this as an opportunity to summon Ares into the field. Ares lowered the demon’s defence as Minato had Sarutobi Sasuke cast Agi on the beast. Betelguese casted Mazio on the party, resulting in heavy damage to Minato. Akemi fired his gun at the demon before Ares casted another Rakunda at the demon. Minato swung his sword on top of the demon’s eye, causing it to fall to the ground as the sword split into two. The floor crumbled away causing both Minato and the demon to fall to the factory’s basement.

///

The factory started to lit up a bit as Minato regained consciousness. He stood up from the demon’s corpse and picked up his now broken sword.

“That went spectacularly...” he muttered.

“I’d say...what moron gets knocked unconscious like that...” A voice called sounding like his own.

Minato turned around to see himself with a darker color palette, and red eyes that glow around his face.

‘???: Minato?, ??? Race, Fortune Arcana’

The other Minato held a knife while smirking, “What? You never looked at a mirror before? We both are dumb enough that it could happen.”

“And you are?”

“Ah, there it is… our stupidity coming into fruition...” the Minato pointed at himself, “I am you, and you are me… I am a shadow of your true self...”

“And your point is?”

The shadow began to twirl his knife around, “It’s quite simple, don’t you think? We’re both unwanted by the world… We deny our lives in favor of looking for answers that we already have… Our parents died from a car crash, what else could it have been.”

“You don’t know that...”

“Neither do you apparently. While we lack our full memory of the incident, we ignore the basic evidence that proves that there was a fucking car crash, and nothing else...”

“Then why do I vaguely remember the sound of gunfire?” Minato retorted.

“Gunfire? What gunfire? All I hear is evidence that we don’t know if it actually exists. We both know you’re bluffing.”

“Who says you know anything?”

The shadow Minato bursted out laughing, “HaHaha! What a comedian! That’s fucking hilarious! HaHaHaHa!” he stopped and then pointed his knife at Minato, “We are one in the same...we’re both unwanted space in this world and nobody will bat an eye should we die...We are just a boy who can’t solve a case on his own and is a fucking disgrace to our familiy name. The world shall outlive us and would be better off if we didn’t exist.” his smile turned even more as he aimed the blade towards his other self, “Our Arcana is Fortune, right? The Arcana of change and fate… Let me tell you our fate… You’ll die in a short life...AND I’M THE ONE WHO KILLS YOU!”

The Shadow charged at Minato and slashed at Minato’s arm, drawing a bit of blood from him. Minato followed this by slashing his counterpart’s neck to which he laughed it off.

“Don’t worry, I’m just going to make your death as painful as possible.”

**“Come forth! Reverse Orpheus!”**

An Orpheus with an inverted color palette appears behind Shadow Minato. The Orpheus casted Agi and burned Minato with the attack. It’s times like these where Minato is grateful that the spells don’t do lasting damage on him.

“So you can use a Persona too?” Minato muttered.

“Of course I can! I’m you remember!”

“Well in that case...”

Minato lifted his hand to the air, **“Lilim! Zio!”**

A bolt of lightning hit the shadow allowing Minato to quickly change to Angel and shoot at his other’s forehead. The shadow took action, and stabbed Minato’s wrist, dropping his broken sword, before slowly retracting the knife. Minato pushed the shadow back and held onto his bleeding wrist.

“Not bad for a loser like you...” Shadow Minato taunted, “But I have a few tricks up my sleeve...”

The shadow pointed to the ceiling, **“Reverse Jack Ripper! Cleave!”**

Jack Ripper was summoned before slashing at Minato’s chest, knocking him down. The shadow stood above Minato and held his knife up into the air. The shadow’s hand got shot by a bullet prompting the two to look at the place of origin. From there, Akemi stood with a gun aimed right at the shadow.

The shadow stepped away from his counterpart, “I’ll be back, I’ll kill you when you aren’t asleep...There’s no joy to that method…&%$#@, take me away from here...”

The shadow was teleported away, leaving Minato and Akemi to breath in the room.

“It’s a good thing I got here when I did...Ares, could you please heal Minato?”

“With pleasure, M’lord...”

Ares healed Minato before getting dismissed.

“Your wrist will still hurt for a while but at least it won’t get paralysed. Should we get going?”

“Yeah...”

Minato got up and followed Akemi out of the room only to stop by Betelgeuse’s corpse. There laid a scroll next to the body. Minato picked up the scroll and opened it up to see that it’s written in a demonic language. The world stopped as Minato heard a voice that sounded similar to Akemi’s.

“ _You have done well so far...While I may have taken away the power given to you by the contract, you will not need it for the time being. I will continue watching you as you get stronger. Farewell, I hope to guide you through your quest..._ ”

The world returned to normal as Akemi’s voice rang outside the room.

“Minato! The Dark Hour is about to end!”

“I’ll be there in a second!”

Minato closed the scroll and ran out the room, still thinking about the scroll. Minato was unable to write in his journal due to his injury.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First new moon chapter done. Shadow Minato works by Persona 2 logic rather than Persona 4. That includes the red eyes and use of reverse Personas.
> 
> So what do you think of this Chapter? Let me know whether it is positive or negative.


	10. Murder of a Manager

Minato’s wrist could now hold a pencil again, but it still needed to recover to the point where he could hold a weapon without resorting to switching hands. As such, leaving both Minato and Akemi at a stalemate against the Dark Hour. A week passed before it healed completely. The next problem arrived shortly after.

“Why isn’t there any activity coming from the Dark Hour!” Akemi yelled before slamming his head on top of his desk.

“You never thought of what we would do if this should happen?”

“Because this is the first time I’ve experienced this! The demons never went silent!”

“Now what? Are we going to do some actual detective work now?”

Akemi lifted his head and slowly turned to Minato with an ever growing smile.

///

“You know I was joking, right?” Minato asked with an annoyed look on his face

“Well we have to make this as authentic as possible, why not have you take on actual cases.” Akemi said with a massive grin on his face.

“I hate you so much right now...”

“I know...but I don’t regret it...”

Minato sighed, “Let’s just get this case done and over with.”

Minato and Akemi found themselves in front of a office building where a murder had occured an hour ago. The workers were told to stay in the building until the investigation and to avoid touching any object in the building. The two went up the third floor and found the corpse of the manager, lying face up over a puddle of water. While this could’ve been passed off as an accident, there was one glaring problem.

“There is a bloody brick over there...” Akemi pointed out.

“Yes, I can see that...” Minato deadpanned. “But why would they leave the brick there if they tried to pass this off as an accident?”

Minato also took notice with the trail of blood on the floor. Another painful bit of evidence that points 

Akemi turned to one of the office workers, “Do you know what happened prior to the murder?”

“There was a blackout for a period of time. By the time the lights came on, the manager was already dead.”

“Did you hear any sounds?”

“I think I hear a door open...”

“So the murder took place during the blackout.” Minato murmured. He walked over to the empty water dispenser and turned to the worker, “How long has this been empty?”

“I remember that being full...”

“Interesting...”

Minato and Akemi asked the other workers about this and confirmed that there was a blackout and the water dispenser was originally full. They went over to the first floor and asked about anyone entering the breaker room before the blackout with one saying they saw a man named Natame Hiro walk in before the power went out. The duo asked for permission to look over the security footage to see the suspect enter and exit the room.

Akemi squinted at Natame’s outfit, “Why is he missing his tie?”

“Don’t know...looks like the blackout lasted for 15 minutes judging by the clock’s change. I’m going to need to pull off an experiment.” Minato observed.

“An experiment? Like what?”

“Let’s go down to the breaker room first, I can test my theory when we’re done looking for evidence.”

The two left the security room and went down to the breaker room, which was dark thanks to the entrance being to the side of the staircase. Akemi flicked on the switch only for the room to stay dark. He left to borrow a flashlight from a fellow policeman only for it to struggle to stay on.

“He gave me the worse one? Seriously!? Out of the 30 something flashlights we have, he grabbed the one that works half the time!”

As Akemi continued his rant while trying to get the light to work, Minato stepped down the stairs carefully. From the bottom of the staircase a sharp pain went into his head and the Akemi like voice returned as he clutched his head.

_ “Focus your mind around your surroundings...” _

Minato’s eyes turned yellow and his sight was replaced with red outlines with some objects being orange.

_ “This is the ability known as Third Eye. Use it to find items of interest.” _

_ ‘Do I need to question these things anymore?’ _

Minato decided to test this new ability by checking for evidence around the room. From there he found a bundle of cloth sitting in the corner.

At that moment, Akemi’s flashlight finally turned on, “There we go, now we’re in business! Any suggestions on where to point this thing?”

“How about that corner to the right.”

Akemi flashed his light over to the corner, walking over to the cloth to further inspect it.

“A uniform with some blood splatters on it? Judging by the name tag it belongs to Natame. There is also a lightbulb placed on the side” Akemi looked over to Minato and raised an eyebrow, “Why are your eyes yellow?”

“I think I got an ability that highlights objects.”

“Sweet! Can you turn it off?”

“...”

“Minato, please tell me that you can turn it off...”

“...”

“Permission to slap?”

“Yes please...”

Akemi slapped Minato in the face, resulting in his eyes returning to normal.

Minato rubbed his cheek, “I’m going to be spending my golden week trying to figure this stupid thing out, am I?”

“Seems like it. So what’s your theory?”

“Right, that...” Minato pulled out his pocket watch, “I’m going to try and estimate how long it would take for the killer to reach the third floor and then come back here to turn the power back on. If the time taken matches the killing, Natame’s a suspect. If not, then there is the possibility that he might be getting framed.”

“That’s actually pretty smart. I’m surprised you managed to come up with that on the spot mr. ‘I’m not a good detective.’”

“Actually, Naoto came up with this experiment during a case.”

_ ‘Did she?’  _ Akemi thought while silently facepalming, using the darkness to hide said action.

“Just start the experiment...”

Minato went on to do several tests running and walking upstairs while Akemi interrogated the other workers.

“Where were you during the blackout?” Akemi asked the suspect.

“I was on the first floor.” the suspect responded with an obvious lie.

**“LIAR!”** Akemi yelled while pointing at the man, “Your eyes tell a different story, CONFESS!”

Two of Akemi’s co-workers looked at each other unamused, “Is he always like this?”

“...You’ll get used to it...”

The suspect groaned, “Ok, I was in the elevator during the blackout.”

“Excuse me? That would have proven your innocence from the start!”

“It was embarrassing!”

“There was a murder! The worst part is that I know you’re not lying about the elevator!”

It was safe to say that it was frustrating for the policeman. Akemi tried asking for the workers whereabouts during the blackout and eventually meeting up with Minato.

“How’s that theory going?”

“He would have plenty of time if he were the killer, the question would be why it would take so long. Have you interrogated Natame yet?”

“Not yet, but we probably should.”

The two found Natame on the second floor and stopped him on the spot.

“Excuse me, can we ask you a few questions?” Akemi asked.

“Uh...” Natame ran from the two and made way for the staircase.

“Damnit! After him!” Akemi shouted as the two gave chase to the runner.

After climbing down the stairs, Minato dashed towards him and tackled him to the ground. “Seriously, a policeman wants to ask you a question and your first response is to run away? That raises so many red flags even if you were innocent.” Minato stood up as a police officer handcuffed Natame, “I think it’s safe to say we’ve found our culprit...”

Akemi quirked an eyebrow, “How can you tell?”

“I’ll give the rundown.

Natame was seen to have entered the breaker room before the blackout occurred. The security footage also shows this being the case and he was also seen wearing a uniform without the tie. When me and Nakajima searched the breaker room we found that the breaker room lights weren’t working. The reason why is because the lightbulb had been taken out, presumably during the blackout. The breaker room also contained a bloodstained uniform hidden away in the corner. As for how how Natame was able to commit the murder, I did an experiment to see how long would it had took for him to go to the third floor and back and confirmed that he would have plenty of time to comit the murder. I also searched the third floor during the experiment to fill the time and discovered a bin of spare uniforms. However, what confirmed my suspicions is when he ran away when Nakajima asked if he could answer some questions. If he were innocent, he would already know that he could just tell the truth and he would’ve been fine.

What happened in the blackout can be explained by this. The killer went to the breaker room and turned off the power for the entire building. After this, he went upstairs with a stray brick in hand and reached the third floor, knowing that the manager was occupying it at the moment. While the manager was wandering in the dark, he went for the kill and ended his boss’s life. After committing the deed, he grabbed a gallon of water from a dispenser, poured it onto the floor, and laid the body there to make it look like an accident. He then grabbed a spare uniform and walked back downstairs. What he didn’t realize however, is that he forgot to take the brick with him. As a result, it was clear that someone murdered him.

His next step in the plan was to change out of the bloody clothing. After he changed, he took down the breaker room’s lightbulb and placed the clothes in the corner of the room. He turned the power back on and left the breaker room, not realizing that the spare uniform didn’t come with a nametag or tie. Isn’t this the case, Natame Hiro?”

Natame sighed, “Yes, I did kill him. But he wasn’t the one I was aiming for...”

Minato’s eyes widened, “He wasn’t?”

“No, I was aiming for someone else. I ended up killing our manager instead and I didn’t realize it until the body was found.”

One of the policemen looked at Akemi, “Is he telling the truth?”

“Yeah, take him away...” the walking lie detector told his co-workers.

They took the culprit away and sent him in the jail car.

Akemi crossed his arms and smiled, “You did a good job today. You did better than I would.”

“I got lucky, I would not have solved this case if the killer didn’t try to escape when questioned. Any other member of my family would have figured out the killer without such luck. In fact this case would’ve been child’s play to them compared to me.”

“Minato, take the compliment...”

“I’m going back home now...” Minato waved his hand and walked away.

“Take the compliment damnit!”

///

_ Akemi’s log, starting...now! _

_ Is Minato’s self esteem really that bad when it comes to detective work? It is only when the subject comes up so I don’t really hear it very often… but he isn’t even bad at it… He has shown to be good at it judging by how he was able to tell how the murder was commited and the only thing he got wrong was the murderer’s motivation. I really need to get him to stop comparing himself to his family because it is not healthy. _

_ Minato has also developed the ability to pinpoint the location of important items that he is looking for. I kind of wish he got that when we were at the factory, but I suppose that it’s better that he got it at all. The only problem is that he doesn’t know how to turn it off. Speaking of which, he must have turned it on by accident because I can hear him yelling about it from my room. _

_ I still say that he’s a good kid though… _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think of this chapter? I wanted to have a case that took place outside of the Dark Hour so this was the result. We’ll go back to more Dark Hour cases in the next chapters.
> 
> Feel free to give me criticism, the reason why I started writing this fic was to practice after all.


	11. Vs. Strega ROUND 1

Golden week ended and Minato still couldn’t figure out how to successfully activate and deactivate Third Eye seamlessly. His attempts to get it to work have resulted in both Akemi and him to lose sleep, albeit for different reasons. The many texts that Akemi sent were still in the chat room the two had set up.

Class went by per normal and Junpei came up to greet him in the hallways.

“Sup dude, how’s it going?”

“Dying inside, what about you?”

“Nothing much, I’ve been chilling out in the dorms while playing video games. Man, this golden week went by fast.”

“It felt like ages to me.”

“What? Don’t tell me you didn’t have anything interesting to do with your job as a detective?”

“We had one case and that was it.”

“Iori, can you please stop bothering our classmates.”

Minato turned to the door and found a girl with short brown hair standing next to Kotone.

“Hey Yukari! Kotone! Are we going t-” Junpei’s question was interrupted by Yukari.

“You're not allowed to talk about what we do in the night!”

Minato tilted his head, “In the night?”

Yukari and Kotone’s eyes widened before clamping Junpei’s mouth shut, “No! It’s not like that at all!” Yukari yelled.

Minato’s Third Eye activated without him realizing, shocking the three who saw his eye color change. Minato spoke as if nothing happened, “Then what are you doing in the night?”

Kotone spoke up, “Y-Your eyes turned gold...”

_ ‘It happened again… time to make an excuse.’ _

“You must be hallucinating.”

“No dude, I saw them turn yellow as well...” Junpei commented.

Minato closed his eyes and tried to turn off Third Eye, “Must be whatever you guys are doing during the night. What else could it be?”

_ ‘Damn it! It’s still on!... Hold on, why are their silhouettes yellow while everyone else’s are blue?’ _

Yukari crossed her arms, “All three of us? At the same time?”

“Why yes, whatever you three must be doing staying up all night. Surely someone in your dorms would make sure that you three would get some sleep.”

Kotone spotted a red haired girl and called out to her, “Hey Mitsuru! I have a question for you!”

She walked over just as Minato’s Third Eye turned off, “What is it?”

“Is Arisato’s eyes grey or gold?”

“They look grey to me.”

Minato looked over at Junpei, “See, you guys are hallucinating...”

“Hold it! I saw them change when Mitsuru was walking over here!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about...” Minato noticed that Mitsuru was staring at him with curiosity, “What’s with that look you’re giving me?”

“Sorry, can I get your name?”

“Oh right, my name is Arisato Minato. I’m classmates with these three.” Minato said while pointing at his classmates. “I’m guessing that they live in the same dorm as you?”

“Yes they do, my name is Kirijo Mitsuru.” Mitsuru took a second look at Minato’s appearance, “Have I seen you before?”

_ ‘Kirijo… aren’t they a prestigious family?”  _ Minato started to sweat, _ “Wouldn’t that mean… they would know about the Shirogane family?... I think I’m close to getting my cover blown...’  _ His skin started to pale,  _ ‘Quick! Think of something to say to throw her off!’ _ “Must be a coincidence...”  _ ‘YOU FOOL! You only made it worse!’ _

_ ‘Why does he look more stressed? All I said was that he looked familiar...’  _ Mitsuru thought, “I don’t think there are many boys with natural blue hair with a below average height.”

“Oh wow, I didn’t even notice how short Minato is...”

_ ‘Iori, not now! My secret identity is in jeopardy! Is there anyone with blue hair that I know of besides my sister? Mishina Eikichi? No, he dyed it blue...I can’t think of anyone else.’ _ “S-Sorry, but I have to go now...”

Minato walked away from the four before running to the apartment complex. The world froze around Kotone and the mysterious boy appeared again.

“There will be a massive threat in the next full moon. You encounter one of THEM. I’ll see you after you dispatch the threat. Until then, take care...”

The world returned to normal, leaving Kotone back into her own thoughts.

///

Minato entered Akemi’s apartment near the Dark Hour. Akemi was tinkering with a small device before getting up and putting the device in a box and wrapping it up. He placed a small note on it

“Don’t mind that, it’s just a small project that I’m working on. Bit of a random question, but when is your birthday?”

“May 27th, my fake birthday is on the 5th of March. Why do you want to know anyways?”

“No reason, my birthday is on June 21st by the way...”

_ ‘Crazy weirdo...’ _ Minato thought in his head before changing the subject.

“So, what’s our agenda today?” Minato asked.

“For now, exploring the city and recruiting demons. How many Personas can you hold?”

“I’m taking a guess and saying about 6...”

“Really? Maybe that will increase in the future, who knows?.” Akemi picked up an axe from the table and gave it to Minato, “I don’t have any more swords at the moment so you’re going to have to work with this for now.”

“I doubt my Kendo lessons would carry over well but I guess it’s worth a shot...”

“Alright! The Dark Hour will arrive soon. Let’s get going shall we?”

The room’s atmosphere changed as Akemi and Minato left the apartment.

///

“Whatta you want?” The Wendigo snarled.

“My name is Nakajima Akemi. I want you to join my cause. Will you accept?”

“Give me a bead and I will consider...”

Akemi reached for his pocket and handed over a bead.

“He he, thanks...” the demon snickered before running away with the bead.

“YOUR HEAD IS MINE! Minato! After him!”

Minato and Akemi chased after the demon only to lose it in an alleyway.

“We lost him! That was one of my best healing items too!”

“You have 70 of them...”

“But that was my favorite one...”

Minato’s Third Eye activated and sensed two presences, “Akemi, I think someone is following us...”

The two turned around and saw two other people standing. One had long grey hair and wore no shirt, while the other had dark blue hair and a green jacket. Akemi stabbed his sword into the ground and started typing into his COMP.

“So who are you supposed to be? I don’t believe that you want to talk about pleasant subjects.”

The grey haired man smirked, “No we do not. We aren’t anybody important.”

“Yeah right, if you weren’t then you wouldn’t have the mind to wander around the Dark Hour.”

“What’s in it for you!?” The blue haired man shouted.

The white haired man glanced at his partner, “Now Jin, we don’t want to scare off our guests… Our names are not important, we just want to know why someone is strutting these streets during this hour.”

Akemi glared at the two strangers, “We work to prevent demons from killing any more people. What’s the problem in that?”

“Don’t you mean the shadows? We’re all going to die someday so what is the point in trying to save others.”

Akemi wanted to facepalm, “You’re one of  _ those  _ people aren’t you? First of all, apparently you don’t know that there is an entire legion of beings besides shadows so you don’t have any credibility on talking about the subject.”

Jin shouted at Akemi, “Well look at you being all high and mighty! Thinking that you know everything in the world!”

“I never said I did, I’m an idiot who's only excelling skill is wiring electronics and even I know that you’re wrong. What do you have that would discredit my information?”

The white haired man gazed at the COMP on Akemi’s arm, “What is that thing that you’re typing on? Electronics aren’t supposed to work during this hour.”

Akemi grinned, “My proof that demons exist...”

Akemi pressed the enter key and summoned Ares and Unicorn.

The shirtless man scowled at Akemi, “So what? You can’t summon those without that machine of yours… So I’ll just have to get that thing off of you...”

He aimed a gun right at Minato and fired at him. Akemi intercepted the bullet into his left arm, destroying the COMP in the process along with it injuring his left arm. The summoned demons disappeared as Akemi used one of his beads and healed himself. Minato turned to the attacker and glared at him.

The attacker smirked, “He pulled out his demons, I pulled out my gun. It was common sense to be honest...”

Akemi discarded the COMP and picked up his sword. Minato lifted his Axe and summoned Orpheus, “So you declared war? Ok then we’ll just have to see who will be left standing...” Minato spat out with venom in his mouth.

Akemi glanced at his partner, “Minato, this isn’t worth the trouble...”

“It will be...”

**“Orpheus! Rakunda!”**

Orpheus lowered the white haired man’s defence prompting Minato to charge at him. Jin stepped in front and threw a grenade at Minato. Akemi rushed in to pull Minato out of the way and got hit by the explosion instead.

Jin smirked,  **“Moros! Maragidon!”**

A burst of fire erupted on top of the two and sent them back. Minato took a look at his opponent’s Persona.

‘Persona: Moros, Hermit Arcana. Summoner: Shirato Jin.’

‘Persona: Hypnos, Fortune Arcana. Summoner: Sakaki Takaya.’

Takaya smirked at Minato, “So you are also able to summon a Persona as well… I guess the gods gave you the same gift as well.”

Minato spat on the ground,  **“Sarutobi Sasuke! Media!”**

Sarutobi healed Minato and Akemi before vanishing.

Takaya raised an eyebrow, “So you can use more than one Persona? I guess that means they don’t grow very well...”

“Bastard... **Orpheus! Ma-** Argh!” Minato’s head sprained as Orpheus was summoned. A dark creature tore the Persona from the inside. Minato blacked out as the new Persona charged at his foes before slashing at them. The monster slashed off Takaya’s right trigger finger and knocked the gun off his hand. He clutched his injured hand and glared at the beast.

“Takaya! We won’t be able to deal with this! We need to pull back!”

Takaya picked up his gun, “*Tsk* We’ll meet again...”

The two fled before the monster disappeared and Minato collapsed. Akemi ran towards his fallen comrade and felt for a pulse.

“He’s unconscious… I just had to forget about Thanatos didn’t I...“ Akemi hung Minato over his shoulder and glanced at the direction the other Persona users ran off to, “Those two will definitely appear again. For now I need to get the kid into the hospital.”

Akemi walked over to the hospital and waited for the Dark Hour to end, bringing the broken COMP with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of another chapter, Summer classes are a pain but at least I finished them quickly.
> 
> Not exactly the most grand debut for Thanatos but I suppose it’ll do for now. Again, criticism is more than welcomed.
> 
> Speaking of which, I got my very first troll comment last week. It’s no longer there but I saved the thing in my notes because I found it funny. It didn’t even insult the story, It was just insulting Naruto for some reason. I remember looking at it and thinking “Okay, is this supposed to be insulting?”
> 
> I’ll hopefully see you next chapter, any critics are welcomed.


	12. Recovery and Loss

The woman stared at the heart she just tore out and smiled, “Well brother, I guess you failed to finish your quest… What a shame… I was hoping for an entertaining fight between us...” she crushed the heart into a bloody mess and let it fall onto the man’s soulless face, “I guess I’m just going to have to see what your little champion will do.”

The woman left the building and the man’s corpse was found in the morning. 

///

Minato found himself standing on a pillar surrounded by fog. Looking down, he could see a bottomless pit of nothing that would presumably send him to his death. From the distance, he could barely make out a figure standing on a pillar of their own. The figure covered their face with the fog and the hood of their cloak but if Minato were to try to guess who they were, he would likely fail.

The Akemi-like voice echoed in Minato’s head, _“I see that you have awoken Thanatos… quite unfortunate that you are strong enough to control that Persona yet.”_

“Wha-Okay! Who are you and how are you speaking to me like this!?” Minato shouted.

_“...My name isn’t important at the moment, refer to me as however you like.”_

“Ok voice, what is up with the cryptic messages?”

 _“I needed to alert you of your new abilities somehow.”_ The Voice replied.

 _‘Why is that something Akemi would say?’_ Minato thought in his head before pressing his next question, “So my Third Eye ability was from you then?”

_“Yes, and it won’t be the last...”_

“Wait-wait-wait, hold on! I can’t even control Third Eye yet, what makes you think that I can manage more than that!”

For some reason, Minato could feel the voice smiling, _“Because I have faith that you’ll be able to end this twisted game that the world has fallen to. If I can’t do it, maybe you can...”_

“What is this about a game?”

_“Our only chance to prevent the Fall. Unfortunately, We’re running out of time. I’ll provide you with more details in the future. Until then, take care...”_

“Wait! Stop! What are you-”

The pillar underneath Minato gave way before dropping him down into the abyss, screaming.

///

Minato jolted out from his sleep and felt sharp pain on his body. He looked around the room and judging by the medical equipment and the room’s layout, he was in the hospital. Why was he- _‘Oh yeah, I picked a fight with two higher leveled Persona Users. I am such a dumbass...Akemi took most of the blows didn’t he? Where is he?’_

A nurse came in and noticed that Minato was awake, “You were asleep for a while, a brutalized man came in here and begged for you to get treated.”

 _‘...Brutalized?’_ Minato paled, “Can I ask what is the condition of that man?”

The nurse frowned, grabbed a piece of paper, and a small box from the table and handed it to Minato, “He left this for you...”

The nurse left the room as Minato began to read the letter.

‘Hi Minato, this letter is being written by Kurosawa here but these words come from me. If you are reading this then it means I have succumbed to my injuries and passed from this realm. I thought I would’ve died from a fiend or in an epic battle to save my sister… But uh… I kept running into demons while carrying you to the hospital. Those healing items may be good for healing but I think that fight against those psychos may have destroyed a vital organ that didn’t get healed correctly. I guess this is just the fate of most demon summoners. You don’t die in a blaze of glory defending your belief of law or chaos, you die because a couple of boulders fall on top of your head. The Amala Multiverse has never been kind to us… Oh right, I never got to tell you what that even is, and Kurosawa is looking at me weird at this very moment!

Moving on from that, I’ll just give you my final words to you. And no, you are not the only one to get this treatment. I’m having Kurosawa write letters to some of my coworkers down in Tokyo. I will start when we first met on your first day here in Port Island. You haven’t awakened your Persona yet and I was still doing solo work. You probably were going to explore the Dark Hour anyways even if we hadn’t talked to each other that night. What was the reason for that again? I can’t remember...Right it was because you realized that I looked like a dead guy. I never did explain the reason for that, did I? I’ll just say that reincarnation is a thing and leave it that… I never got how that works, I just know that I’m going to lose my memories when I die. Fuck Izanagi by the way...Izanami too.

While all my suffering will be for nought, I’ll just say this right now. I never got why you discredit your detective skills. Sure, that case we did was so easy that even a kindergartener could solve it. But I’ve seen your analysis abilities at work when you figured out that you could use Personas without actually summoning them and while your Third Eye might be finicky now, I can see it helping you out in the future. Darn it, I was really hoping that I would live to the point where I could see you save the world. Point is, sure you might not be as good as your lineage now, but you’re still really good in spite of that. You’re still good by detective standards. I’m really only good for detecting lies.

While those insane Persona users may have given up on life, please do your best to not grow the same mindset as them. You still have family members right? You only live once, so make sure you remember that.

I’ve left you a COMP as a part of my will. It doesn't have the devil summoning installed yet but it’s powered with a Plume of Dark and you’ll be able to use it to store your Personas. It doesn’t have the Devil Summoning Program installed yet, I was still working on the storage system before we walked out so I couldn’t install it yet. You could try if you want, it’ll just be difficult if you don’t know how to program. You don’t have to though, it’s just an option.

I guess this is goodbye huh? We’ve only known each other for a month but I’d say it was enjoyable… I would have rather that our first case didn’t involve a wheel of death but It was nice having someone to talk to. I don’t think that you would be crying your heart out because of that but I suppose that wouldn’t be realistic. After all, I’m just the tutorial character in your story… That sounded better in my head...

-Nakajima Akemi, that crazy weirdo you happened to know.'

Minato stared at the paper for what felt like an eternity until he felt someone tap his shoulder. He turned his head to see the same nurse from earlier.

“They said that you are in good condition to leave now...”

“Ah, thank you...”

Minato changed into casual clothing and saw that his hat was torn to shreds. He sighed shakenly and left the room, making his way out of the hospital with tears in his eyes.

///

From what Minato heard, Akemi’s wake was minimalistic as not many people showed up. His body was cremated during his miniature coma and was asked to be moved to Tokyo due to it being his birthplace. Minato was able to see the autopsy reports and found that Akemi’s heart was torn out of his chest.

_‘Was he murdered? That would mean someone wanted him dead. But who?’_

The police force had forbidden Minato from participating in the case due to his ties with the man and they didn’t want someone to be too emotionally distracted to focus on the case. Minato returned to the apartment complex and a book sitting in front of his door. He picked them up, wiped away his tears, and glanced at the title.

‘A Guide to Becoming a Demon Summoner: contents provided by Stephen’

Minato decided to avoid opening the book and entered his apartment. He sat his new COMP on his desk, buried his face into his pillow, and screamed. Minato took out his journal and scribbled into it.

///

_Log who cares anymore [May 10th, 2009]_

_Akemi died and I’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea of him suddenly dying out of nowhere. How am I still alive! The world would have been better if I died instead! I’m such an idiot, why did I decide to fight those Persona users? It would have been a better move if we had just retreated when we had the chance. Akemi’s COMP got destroyed so it was a lost cause no matter what! Why did Akemi even take those blows to begin with? I feel like I’m going to be asking that alot but why? Akemi was dumb when it came to common sense but he had no reason to defend me… right? I think this is what people call survivor’s guilt… I still say that I should have died that night… but I’m alive now and there’s nothing I can do about it. Well… I could… no, that would spit on Akemi’s sacrifice._

_He left me a letter containing his final words to me. In those final words he said that I should worry about being as good at my family at detective work and to instead work on my own merits… I still think I’m not a good detective but it’s worth a shot. I never did get why Akemi was so confident in my abilities but I’ll take the complement now._

///

Minato felt a tug on his sleeve and noticed that the mysterious boy was back. He looked around his surroundings and got the basic idea.

“Dark Hour already?”

“Yes, it seems that you were struggling to write your thoughts this time and I can understand why. You want to talk about it?”

“Sure… Do you have a name that I can call you?”

“Hmm… You can call me Pharros.”

“Ok Pharros,” Minato sat up straight, “You can sit here if you want.”

Pharros sat down onto the bed and let out a sigh, “I’m going to miss Akemi...”

“You actually experienced those moments?”

“We’re always together, remember?”

“Right, how could I forget… But you didn’t really get the chance to really talk to him did you?”

“Well I couldn’t either way, I can only talk to you and that one girl in your class.”

“Figures..."

Pharros placed a hand on his cheek, “But I found Akemi to be a pleasant to be around. I also found him to be funny if I’m honest.”

“I didn’t but he was the only one I could call a friend here… besides you of course.”

“You don’t consider Junpei a friend?”

“Iori’s more of an acquaintance if I’m going to be honest. I felt that Akemi actually knew how far he should go and actually thought about what he wanted to do with his life. He’s also the only one that has seen my bs and also bothered to deal with it.”

Pharros nodded, “I’ve noticed that as well… I think that’s the reason why he took those attacks for you...”

“You think so?”

“That’s the most likely theory.”

“I see...”

Pharros got off the bed, “Well, I’ll be going now. And before I forget, beware the full moon.”

Pharros disappeared from the room, leaving Minato alone. He pulled out his journal and wrote one more thing.

_Rest in Peace Akemi… I’ll continue our detective agency in spirit…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I’m going to get a lot of flak for killing off Akemi. His true identity will be revealed, he’s just not going to be alive at that point. Plus I’m guessing that you may have figured out already…
> 
> Something that I’ve noticed in Megaten games is that the main character dies in a rather anticlimactic way. The SMT 1 hero gets killed by a cave in offscreen, The Nakajima in the novels gets struck down by Izanami possessing his girlfriend, (Yes, that happens. I never said the novels were good.) and the P3 protagonist gets his soul sealed away. The Megaten series has never been kind to it’s characters, just look at the SMT hero’s mother. (Why Atlus, Why?)
> 
> If you found something wrong with my story, do leave a review or comment.


	13. Demon's Marketplace

Minato’s classmates kept asking for what caused his absence for the past few school days. His answer? “I got hit by a truck and was sent to the hospital. As for my hat, I guess someone stole it while I was unconscious...” It’s easier and more believable than saying that he was attacked by two people wielding guns and grenades, ruining his detective hat for good. Minato is still trying to pinpoint the exact moment his hat was lost that night… when he’s not thinking about how he failed Akemi. 

His teacher handed him a study packet to make up for the assignments he missed. Once class was dismissed, Minato went straight back home and got to work on the packet. After finishing his work on the assignment, he ate ramen for dinner and opened up the Demon Summoner’s Guide.

Reading through the contents, he noticed that some of the text was in an indiscernible language that he couldn’t understand. He grabbed the scroll in his closet and compared the texts side by side. The text shares some of the same words, In what way are these two connected. Searching through the internet brought no results on any of the words, bringing the possibility that it might be the language demons use. However, Minato never heard the demon use this language in any conversation that he had with them. Did demons also know japanese or could he just be wrong with the assumption. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was the latter.

Minato flipped through the pages and noticed that Akemi placed sticky notes to place his thoughts on the contents.

‘Why is it in two different languages?’

‘Stephen, what is the why do I need to know about the Amala Multiverse.’

‘Izanagi why have you forsaken me!’

‘Kill me...’

Akemi must have written these when he was a teenager and judging by the fact that some of the notes are in the demonic language, he must have learned how to write in the language rather quickly. How he managed to accomplish the feat is a mystery that may never get solved.

Minato back tracked to earlier pages and found something that peaked his interest.

“There is a book containing code for the summoning program? Where can I find it?” he muttered before reading the note from Akemi.

‘Why aren’t they selling it in the demon market!’

“The demon market?”

Minato looked at the table of contents, ignoring the demonic text, before turning to the page containing the information on the market.

‘The demon market is a location where you can buy items of better quality than in the human realm. The marketplace is a subsection of the demon realm that is safe for humans to occupy. Time in the marketplace flows at a significantly slower pace than in both demon and human realms so feel free to take your time. In order to enter this area, search for a blue portal and enter it. The portal will be hidden, use navigation spells to find the portal and you’ll be able to transport yourself into the market. You can use the blue portal to send yourself back once you are done.’

Minato closed the book and checked the time,  _ ‘11:30, there has to be a portal somewhere in this city. I just have to find it.’ _

Minato pulled a knife out of the kitchen and waited for the Dark Hour to come. While he did so, he further examined the COMP he got from Akemi. It was small enough to fit in a pocket even in it’s bulky, rectangular shape. Opening up the device, there layed two screens. One in the top, and one in the bottom. The way the COMP was structured reminded him of the handheld console that used two screens to play games. At least he can excuse it as a gaming device whenever he brings it along with him.

Fiddling around with it more, he noticed that the bottom screen contained a list telling him which Personas he has equipped at the moment and which ones he stored in the COMP. It looks like he could store 12 Personas at a time, maybe he could increase that somehow? The top screen was completely blank, likely because Akemi couldn’t finish programming this thing to contain all the features he wanted on it. Minato set his presence on Orpheus and used it to store the Persona into the COMP. Orpheus’ name was placed in the storage section, rendering the process a success.

Minato closed the COMP and shoved it into his pocket. He grabbed the knife and his pocket watch and waited by the door for the dark hour to come. Once it did, he pressed the button and left his apartment.

///

Using Third Eye, Minato wandered around the city in search of the portal. Searching around the mall brought no results so far. He moved into the alley near the stares and found a blue door like the one he saw in Tartarus. He turned off Third Eye and attempted to open the door, yielding the same results. He sighed and decided to continue his search elsewhere.

Minato ran into demons along the way and formed a contract with Pixie and Forneus. Neither of which he could use but he could use them for fusion later. He approached Inugami knowing that it’s part of the Hanged man Arcana.

“What can I do for you?”

“Will you be kind enough to join my cause?”

“Answer my question and I will consider. Why do you humans fight one another?”

“It’s for honor...”

“Interesting… very well. I am Inugami of the Beast Race, I am in your care.”

Inugami transformed into a card in which Minato plucked it for the air.

Minato turned Third Eye back on and spotted something from a distance. He moved towards the source and reached his hand towards it.

Minato stepped out of the portal and found himself standing in a new area. He looked around and...yeah it was definitely a marketplace. The area was surrounded with a grainy red substance that shadowed the place. Amongst the marketplace were tents that presumably contained shops. Minato stood out like a sore thumb within the crowd. He walked around before finding a shop that sells books.

He scoured through the options and picked up ‘COMP Programing for Dummies’ from the shelf.

“How much is this book?”

“Taht dluow eb 0005 Macca.”

“What?”

The demon next to him, Knocker, snorted, “He said that it was 5000 Macca.”

“Macca?”

“Don’t tell me you were going to buy that book with yen? Here in the demon realm, we use a currency called Macca. There’s a booth here that you can convert your yen into the current currency over there.” Knocker pointed to a booth far from their current location, “I suggest you go there before you do any shopping, other demons are starting to use Macca more than yen lately so it might do you a favor.”

“Right, thanks.”

Minato walked over to the booth and was greeted by Jack Frost running the booth. Jack Frost looked at Minato’s face and squinted his eyes.

“Oh, it’s you...”

Minato groaned, “Can we just forget about the ice sculpture for now. I want to convert my yen into Macca please.”

The Jack Frost snatched the 10,000,000 yen off of his hand and gave him 1,000,000 Macca in return, “I’m only complying like this so I don’t lose my job. I want a rematch tomorrow’s Dark Hour.”

“Got it...”

Minato returned to the bookstore and bought the programming book along with a book on how to learn the demonic language. The demon stuffed the books into a bag and handed it to him. He stepped out of the tent and continued to look around the market. He bought a longsword from one of the shops and prepared to leave through a nearby portal.

Minato exited out of the portal and tried to figure out where he was placed. He pinpointed the landmarks and building structure before coming to a conclusion.

_ ‘The portal sent me back to Kichijoji… great...’ _

Minato re-entered the portal, not seeing the missing poster on the telephone pole. He then proceeded to go through the portal he first came from before making his way back home.

///

_ Minato Arisato’s Log [Monday, May 11, 2009] _

_ Today I found out about the demon market. I can see myself using it to buy better weapons in the future. I could also theoretically use it to transport myself to Tokyo if I wanted to… not that I have a reason to… Except for maybe one thing that I forgot about. I’m horrible, I know. _

_ I bought two books on programming and learning how to speak the demon language. Neither of them are going to be easy, but I have a feeling that I’m going to need both skills from this point forward. Macca is a strange name for currency but I’m just going to have to deal with it. And hopefully I don’t pay with the wrong currency, because that would definitely raise some eyebrows if it happens. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who don’t know, the main currency in megaten games besides Yen are Macca. It is mostly used when the apocalypse occurs and yen is rendered obsolete. I used Macca in this chapter as a way to differentiate the demons’ culture from the humans’.
> 
> If you have some thoughts, feel free to let me know. I’ll hopefully see you in the next chapter.


	14. Mad Hospital

The exam’s ate up so much of Minato’s time he could have done exploring the Dark Hour as well as working on the COMP’s programming, which he got no progress in besides learning what each command does. It didn’t help that Jack Frost challenged him to a duel so that ate up time as well (It was a draw by the way). Today was currently Sunday, allowing him to take a breather and wait for tomorrow for the exam results to come in.

Minato stepped out of Wild Duck Burger after finishing his meal and found himself stopping at a clothes store.  _ ‘I still need to find a replacement for my hat don’t I? I take a look inside and see if I find one I like.’  _ Minato entered the store and looked through the hat aisle to find one that he would like… there was not a single hat in the same style he usually wears. He picked a black baseball cap from one of the shelves and grabbed a black trenchcoat from the coat aisle. He paid for the items at the checking station and left the store with a bag in hand.

Minato checked his phone and found a text from Kurosawa.

**Kurosawa:**

**We have a case for you.**

Minato sighed and made his way to the police station.

///

Minato entered the police station and waited by the counter. Kurosawa pulled out a file and handed it to the younger detective.

“What’s my case for today?” Minato asked, opening the file.

“Hospital patients who were stable have been throwing themselves out of the hospital windows in an attempt of suicide. The patients were reported to scream over a hallucination with descriptions matching one another.”

“I’m guessing that this is the work of a demon?”

“That would be our best bet. We’re counting on you as the Paranormal Detective.”

“ _ That’s  _ what they’re calling me?”

“Akemi started calling you that in the days leading up to his death and we adopted the name after he passed.”

“That does sound like something Akemi would do...” Minato muttered, “I’m going to prepare for the case and I’ll be there in the night. The demon might hide in the day.”

“Be sure to make it quick.”

“Will do...” 

Minato left the station and made his way to the Cathedral of Shadows to begin his preparations.

///

After fusing Angel, Pixie, and Forneus to make Archangel at the cathedral, Minato returned to his apartment and sat down on his desk. He hooked the COMP into his laptop and loaded the programming software. He opened up the programmer’s book and flipped through the pages to start work.

_ ‘I’ll start with the auto-map, It has the least code and it’ll help me when I decide to try climbing Tartarus.’ _

Minato followed the instructions and typed the commands as asked. Once he finished, he saved the code to the COMP and unhooked it from the laptop. He opened it up and turned it on, now seeing a map on the top screen. He closed the COMP and checked the time to see what time it was. ‘11:26’

Minato dressed himself with his new trenchcoat and put his hat on, slanting it to the left. It looks dumb to him but it hides both of his eyes and somehow he could still see perfectly fine, 20/20 vision might have something to do with it. He stuffed his COMP and pocket watch into his pockets and pulled his sword, and sheath out of his closet. He hid the sword inside his trenchcoat and prayed to the gods that nobody will notice it when he goes out. The guitar case is still in Akemi's locked apartment so there was no way for him to hide better than he currently can.

Minato stepped out of his apartment, locked the door, and made his way to the hospital. He could’ve sworn that he saw Kotone and her friends walking towards the school but he shouldn’t get sidetracked, he needed to go to the hospital. He stepped inside and checked the time. ‘11:59’

He pulled out his pocket watch and waited for the Dark Hour to start.

_ ‘5...4...3...2...1..’ _ *Click*

The lights shut off and the air thickened. Ghostly moans echoed across the halls, sending a chill across Minato’s spine. He unsheathed his sword and began to explore the hospital. To no surprise, demons occupied the place as if there was a party in which he had to cut down a few of them while recruiting the one that he could… while failing to convince some others.

“I’m sure your mother was very nice...” Minato said as an excuse.

“I HATED MY MOTHER!!!” the demon shouted.

“Oh, well that’s quite tragic...”

“YOU BASTARD! I’LL KILL YOU!!!”

“Son of a...”

After silencing that demon, Minato turned the doorknob next to him only to find that it’s locked.

_ ‘Note to self, invest time to learn lock-picking...’ _

He continued to explore the hospital, noticing the lack of information of new demons popping in his head, before finding the key inside some drawers in the worker’s lounge. He rushed back to the door and unlocked it. Upon opening it, he felt a surge of power rush past him and screeches assaulted his ears. Resisting the assault, Minato readied his sword and entered the room.

In the center of the room was a green head with multiple faces inside it’s eye sockets and mouth. Once again, no information was given on the demon’s identity.

_ ‘Seriously, what happened to those pop ups? They always showed up beforehand, now they don’t...’ _

The demon slammed itself at Minato and knocked him into a wall. He swiftly got up and summoned Archangel to boost his speed and defence before dodging an electrical attack sent straight at him. Chances are this thing is weak to wind… now if only he had a single target Garu spell instead of a multi target one.

**“Sarutobi Sasuke! Magaru!”**

A gust of wind shot past the demon, damaging it a fair amount. Minato tried casting another Garu spell at the demon only for nothing to come out.

“Out of mana… Curse that student who buys everything from the vending machines...”

Minato dodged another bolt before countering with 3 slashes. He slashed at the ghost one more time and sliced the head in half.

The ghost’s remains fizzled out into a puff of smoke and a scroll rolled over to Minato. He picked it up and unraveled it.

“It’s also in the demonic language… didn’t I get a scroll in the last new moon?” He muttered to himself.

He rolled it back in and made his way out of the hospital. He returned the keys to the proper location and walked out of the room.

_ “From the realms of fiends, I summon thy.” _

Minato felt his feet stop and looked down to see that they were sinking into the floor in a black vortex. He tried pulling to no avail as he continued to sink. The process continued until his head disappeared into the ground.

///

Minato fell from above and landed on his back. He stood up and gazed at the scenery to see that he was now at a colosseum with some of the statues representing what he guessed were higher ranked demons.

“My, you are quite the specimen.”

Minato jerked his head to the side and saw a skeleton staring at him at a close distance.

‘Demon: Pale Rider, Fiend Race’

_ ‘Oh, now I get information on new demons… why didn’t it show up before?!’ _

The skeleton moved back and from there, Minato saw that it was riding a horse and held a scythe. 

Pale Rider pointed his scythe towards Minato, “A world heads towards the path of death. Could thou be thy one to prevent such a fate?” The rider lifted his scythe in the air, “I must test thy strength to see if thou art worthy.”

The fiend swung the scythe at Minato, striking him in the side. Minato quickly healed himself with a healing item and moved back. The skeleton held out his hand and a dark circle appeared before Minato’s eyes. He swifty got out of the way and the circle dissipated without fanfare.

_ ‘That was a Mudo skill... I could have died right there… Two can play at that game.’ _

Minato switched to Sarutobi Sasuke, who nullifies the element, and swung his sword at the horse's leg. The horse violently threw it’s rider off, giving him the opportunity to attack his opponent. The skeleton warped back to his horse and calmed it down. The scythe started to darken and the demon swung it down on the boy. Minato stepped out of the way and witnessed the shockwave that followed from the attack, creating a path of destruction in its wake. 

The two continued their fight, swinging their weapons and dodging each attack while getting a good hit on each other once in a while. Minato jumped up in the air and stabbed Pale Rider straight through the face. The fiend’s scythe dropped to the ground as the skeleton and horse desintagrated into nothing. Minato breathed heavily as he picked up his sword from the ground. After returning it to its sheath, a glint of light caught his attention. He picked it up from the ground and examined it. It was an orb in the size of a baseball and was colored in a transparent blue. He placed his left eye into it and vision invaded his mind.

_ Minato(?) walked into the dormitory to find that nobody was awake at the moment. He closed the door and a voice came out of nowhere. _

_ “You're late...” He turned to see Pharros standing behind the counter, “I’ve been waiting for you.” He snapped his fingers and a red notebook appeared on the desk. He held the notebook towards the older boy, “If you wish to proceed, sign your name here. It’s a contract in case you are wondering. Don’t worry, All it says is that you’ll accept full responsibility for your actions. You know, the usual...” _

_ The blue haired boy took the book and pen and wrote his name down. _

_ ‘Yuki Makoto’ _

Minato felt his senses return and pulled the orb from his face.

_ ‘The hell was that!?’ _

That was supposed to be the night he arrived in Port Island right? But there were so many differences. For one, his appearance. He had blue eyes instead of grey and he was taller by, what he guessed, 17 centimeters (to his annoyance). He was also wearing his school uniform instead of his winter jacket and looked bored during the entire thing even signing the notebook without hesitation. The second thing he noticed was the location, it wasn’t an apartment but rather a dormitory. Could this mean that he saw a different universe?

And the last thing he noticed was his name. Instead of Minato, it was Makoto which brings further implication that it was a different universe. What’s bugging him is that the last name is Yuki instead of Shirogane. Could this mean…

Minato decided to push away the thought and exited through the portal that appeared once the battle finished. However, the thoughts stayed in his mind even after he left the hospital.

///

_ Minato Ari-Shirogane Log [5/24/2009 Saturday] _

_ I’m ditching the Arisato alias for these journal entries from now on. I’m pretty sure that no one will read these anyways. _

_ Today I accepted a case involving a ghost that was driving people insane… I never got the name of it though. If fact I didn’t get any information until I got the scroll so that leaves a question. Did that hat Akemi gave me also tell me the information of demons? If so, then that is actually pretty stupid. Granted, I liked it as much as the one I gave Naoto, but still! _

_ I also had my very first encounter with a fiend. Akemi’s book had information on them, I just didn’t read about it… I wish I did. If you walk over a specific area, there is a 1/256 chance that you will be sucked into a portal that will send you to a fiend’s lair. Fiends are supposed to be insanely powerful, so it was a miracle that I didn’t die in that fight. They also have a chance of dropping an insanely powerful weapon, meaning that I have to keep fighting them if I want the really good stuff. _

_ When I defeated the fiend, I was rewarded with an orb that showed me an alternate universe version of myself and… I’ve come to a horrible conclusion. My alternate self is named Yuki Makoto. Unlike myself, he wasn’t hiding his identity based on his personality. This means that I was born into a different family in that universe. And if there are alternate universes that begs the question, how many of them am I a Shirogane? And if my parents died in those universes, is my existence the reason why Naoto grew up without a mom or dad? Is my fate so synonymous with that incident that I’m cursed to lose my parents in every timeline? I hope that it’s not the case but… what if I’m right with this theory? _

_ My current Personas: _

_ Lilim _

_ Marin Karin, Agi, Zio, Bash, Cleave, Rakukaja, Mudo, Mazio _

_ Sarutobi Sasuke _

_ Magaru, Holy Arrow, Rakunda, Agi, Sakukaja, Media, Apt Pupil, Power Slash _

_ Inugami _

_ Posima, Assault Drive, Zio, Poison Boost _

_ Archangel _

_ Hama, Sukukaja, Cleave, Dia, Tarukaja, Patra _

_ Orpheus _

_ Bash, Agi, Rakunda, Maragi, Dia _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you played any Shin Megami Tensei, you should know what a fiend is. In case you’re wondering what demon Minato fought, it’s Orgone Ghost. There may or may not be more fiends in the future, who knows?
> 
> I’ll see you next chapter.


	15. The Devil Summoning Program

Minato decided to bring his Demon Summoner’s guide to school. His plan was to skip out on lunch and read over it before class continued. Before that, he went to the school lobby to see what he was ranked on the exams.

**‘2nd: Arisato Minato’**

**‘3rd: Shiomi Kotone’**

He was the highest ranked in his class, but got second overall. He returned to his homeroom, took the guide out of the bag, and sat down in the corner of the room.

‘The Amala Muliverse is a network of universes that split into differentiating timelines. From there exist prime universes, they are the basis for the derivative universe that ri-builds off the prime ones. Every universe has a series of alternate timelines that are created when a major event causes a split in timelines, such as the world ending or Dante having the money to pay off his debt. Universal constants include the existence of demons, Macca, pizza, and Dante who has an entire multiverse of his own, just to be clear.'

‘Who the hell is Dante?-Akemi’

_ ‘I have the same question… But it seems that my theory on multiple timelines is correct… but is this a prime universe or a derivative one? Is there a way for me to know?’ _

Minato glanced at the end of the page.

‘And no, you don’t live in a prime universe. You’re not special…’

_ ‘Sassy much? Who even wrote this part of the guide?’ _

‘Written by an intellectual Dante from an intellectual universe.’

_ ‘Well I’ll be...’ _

Minato flipped through the book some more and found something on Personas.

‘If the user forces an awakening through unnatural means, there is a chance that it’ll go berserk. The more unstable the user, the more likely it’ll berserk. A natural awakening means that the user awakened their Persona with their will or by accepting their flaws. A natural awakening allows the user to summon multiple Personas within a set of arcana. The exception to the rule are Wild Cards. (See page 54 for more info)’

He flipped to that page and read through it.

‘Wild Cards' are Persona users with the ability to use multiple Persona from every arcana. They tend to only appear at different points in the timeline and are rare to the point that only seven exist in the prime universes. Notable examples include Yuki Makoto, Narukami Yu, and Amamiya Ren. Wild Cards tend to have a connection to the Velvet Room after signing the contract to accept responsibility for their actions. The room’s access to all Persona users cuts off in a specific part of the timeline and from there on, the room’s services are only available to Wild Cards. The Velvet Room can be accessed by entering the velvet door which is colored blue and can only be seen by those who signed the contract. Access to the velvet room is granted once the attendants hand over a key.'

Minato thought back to the blue door he saw in Tartarus, that must be- Wait a minute!

_ ‘How am I able to see the door?! My abilities don’t align with a wild card and I can’t even open it! Does this mean that I had the wild card at one point? Then how did I lose it?!’ _

Minato thought back to any moment that could have taken away the ability. He signed the contract when he arrived at this city and awakened his Persona the next night. Not once did he receive a key.

Minato sighed and closed his book. He stood up and walked to his desk before shoving the guide in his bag. He sat down and waited for the next period to start. But he could have sworn someone was staring at him.

///

A few days have passed and Minato’s progress on the Devil Summoning Program has been slow. Besides school, most of his time has been spent on junior detective work in assisting in heavier cases. His current senior detective is fine but he is somehow less competent than Akemi was, often missing out on obvious clues. As a result, most of the cases were solved by the Paranormal Detective. Thankfully, his identity of the mysterious new detective remains unknown. In fact, most of Port Island’s officers don’t even know his name and instead recognize him for his size and hat. How did that happen, he has no idea. 

Minato also realized that maybe it wasn’t a bright idea creating a false identity since his real one remains unused. It’s even worse considering the fact that he doesn't have plans to keep using it once he learns the truth of that night. It also wasn’t a very good fake identity since he used his real first name meaning that they have less of a reason to call it a coincidence. Perhaps it wasn’t too late to admit that he lied about his identity? He really screwed himself over didn’t he?

Minato sighed as he typed down the last few bars of code into the program. For some reason, the code made by Stephen for the summoning program was ten pages full of complicated commands that need to be typed correctly. It doesn’t say what the commands are either so he spent so much time trying to guess which ones do what. He decided to take a short break and browse the internet for any news. He clicked through the links before scrolling down the webpage before catching an article released yesterday involving Tokyo.

_ ‘Mysterious Disappearances in Tokyo Skyrocket.’ _

_ ‘In a strange occurrence, civilians have increased in missing reports around Tokyo. The disappearances occur suddenly in the strike of midnight, even happening right before witnesses’ very eyes. A total of 42 missing reports have been filed in the past 3 weeks. If you see any of the people listed, please contact the police.  _ **_Click here to open up the list._ ** _ ’ _

Minato clicked the link and read through the missing people. His eyes widened at the sight of two names that he knew all too well.

‘Shirogane Yuka’

‘Shirogane Rin’

Those being the names of his aunt and uncle. How did that happen? It looks like his grandfather and Naoto haven’t disappeared yet but that’s still two people from his family missing.

_ ‘Do I? No, I would just get in the way. I have school tomorrow as well… Fuck it… There’s that Marketplace that connects from here to Kichijoji, I can make a quick stop there...’ _ Minato got up and unhooked his COMP from the computer.  _ ‘7:32, I have plenty of time to get there...’  _

He stuffed his COMP and hid a gun somewhere in his coat. He left his apartment-not reading the other articles-and ran to where he found the portal connecting to the demon’s market. He entered the mall and turned on Third Eye, only to find that the portal wasn’t there.  _ ‘So it only appears during the Dark Hour? Alright… Train it is...’ _

He ran out of the mall and made his way to the train station. His heart started to burn but he endured the pain. It was strangely empty to which he learned the answer as to why.

‘The train is out of service at the moment. Please come back tomorrow morning.’

“You can’t be serious...”

Minato went back home in the horrid mood. His mood worsened when he reread the page on the Demon Marketplace and found out he missed the part where it says that it closes on Wednesdays unless the world ends.

///

“And now to get rid of the If else statements that I entered when I didn’t know any better… done… what’s next?” Minato muttered as he glanced at the next step.

‘To bind the COMP to your contracts, draw a star surrounded by a circle on a piece of paper with your blood. Flip it over and place it over your device of choice. Should you want to use a different method, proceed to follow the next few pages.’

_ ‘...Fuck it.’ _

After uploading the code into the COMP and unhooking it, Minato tore an empty piece of paper from his journal and pulled a knife from the kitchen. He slashed his right index finger, let it bleed, and drew the star onto the paper. He healed himself with a Dia spell and flipped the paper upside down on top of the COMP. The air froze as the lights started to flicker on and off. A glowing star and circle shined through the paper before beaming into a pillar of light that went up to the ceiling. The teen felt a strange feeling as the event unfolded. The light dissipated, leaving an empty circle in the paper. He scrapped it off the COMP and picked up the device in question.

_ ‘It’s 11:30 right now. I can test this out when the Dark Hour hits. Should take my mind away from the disappearances.' _

He was already in his detective uniform thanks to his attempt for Tokyo so all he had to do was wait.

///

Minato stepped out into the empty streets and deduced that there was a low chance in getting ambushed. After pulling out his COMP, he opened it and found that the list on the bottom screen was replaced with two options.

_ ‘Status’ _

_ ‘Summon’ _

The Status option brought back the status screen which was good to know but nothing new. He selected the Summon option and with the intention to summon two demons, Wendigo and Chimera. A purple beam shines from the ground before unveiling Orpheus.

“Damn it!”

The sound of clapping cut through the air behind the teen, “That was a lame spectacle wasn’t it? You didn’t even summon the right demon!” Minato turned around to see his shadow self clapping his hands together as he walked towards them, “Although, I have to say that I wasn’t expecting someone as useless as you to start summoning demons anytime soon.”

Minato glared at him, “What are you doing here?”

His shadow stopped and tilted his head before speaking in a mocking tone, “Aren’t you happy to see your shitty face? You truly are pathetic if you can’t stand yourself.” he tilted his head the other way as his mad grin grew wider, “Wasn’t there someone else walking around with you? I guess even he didn’t want to be around you… just like your family...”

Arisato gritted his teeth and glared harder, “Shut...up...”

He returned his head to a normal position, “Didn’t two of your family members get kidnapped? How tragic is that?” He placed his right hand over his heart, “If you had looked around the area like any normal human being when you teleported there instead of leaving immediately like a dumbass, you would have seen a missing poster showing the faces of your aunt and uncle. You could have tried looking for them but nope! Gotta stay in Port Island like a coward!”

Minato’s grip on his sword tightened, “Shut up...”

The shadow pointed at his other self, “If you would have just stayed in Tokyo like a sensible teenager this whole time, none of this would have happened! They wouldn’t have been kidnapped, and Nakajima would maybe still be alive with his heart intact.” He retracted his and pulled a gun out of his pocket, “In fact, this world would have been better off if we weren’t born at all! No one likes us, and their lives would be better off if we never existed. we’re a disgrace to the universe.”

He hates that he’s right, he hates him so much. He can feel his blood boiling from inside. Why is he connected to him?

The shadow began to twirl his gun around his fingertip, “But I have to say, the faces your old man and sister made when they saw the mutilated corpses I left on their porch were priceless!”

Minato’s breath hitched as tears ran down his cheek,  _ ‘H-He wouldn’t have… no… nonononono!’ _

Shadow Minato’s mad grin grew even larger, “You didn’t read the other articles did you? You really are pathetic if you can’t even read a headline correctly… the screams they were making were just so satisfying. I can recall every stab and burn I gave to them, it was difficult to ensure that every single slash didn’t kill them right away. But the end result was definitely worth it. In fact, I might do it again. But who should I kill next? Perhaps I should go after that little sister of yours. I bet her screams will-”

**“Ravage him!”**

Orpheus charged straight towards Shadow Minato and swung his lyre to smash the shadow into the air, knocking his hat off in the process. He swapped to Inugami and used Posima to poison his shadow self. The shadow landed on his feet and raised his hand into the air.

**“Reverse Orpheus! Mazionga!”**

Several bolts of lighting came down from the sky and obliterated Orpheus while knocking Minato back.

“Never thought I’d see the day where you get angry. I thought you were too much of a wimp to feel such an emotion...”

“Piss off...” Minato spat out, “Stop acting like you know me.”

“But Minato-boy, I am your shadow… it’s my job to know what you’re like. We are one in the same.”

“I don’t recall being insane enough to kill part of my own family.”

The shadow started to laugh, “Maybe, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t insane. You just need the right motivation.”

Minato lowered the shadow’s defense and buffed his speed before charging at his other self, dodging the bullets along the way. The two traded blows, slashing and debuffing each other with neither side budging. Minato swung his sword straight at his shadow's head and sliced it off. The shadow’s body fell to the ground before melting into a pool of blood, leaving behind a blank card. Minato picked it up and checked his pocket watch.

“10 minutes left… that bastard took up so much time. At least he's dead now...” Minato stared at the pool of blood, “What even drove him into doing that? I lothed myself, not Aunt Yuka and Uncle Rin… I never got to apologise to them...”

Minato walked back home, unaware that someone was watching him

“It looks like that shadow was worthless after all… I should have given him better Personas. Oh well, I guess the next one will just have to be stronger.” The figure scooped the blood into a bucket and walked away. “You’ve found an interesting one, brother...”

///

_ Minato Shirogane log [Wed 5/27/2009] _

_ That fucker was right! He really did kill Aunt Yuka and Uncle Rin! I missed the article detailing the fact that all the missing victims were found dead on their relative’s doorsteps. The question is, why? What reason did he have to do this? Was it to frame me? He didn’t even leave any clues to who did it! The bodies apparently had no fingerprints… some birthday today turned out to be! _

_ Yeah, as of today I’m 17 years of age. Of course the best way to spend this birthday is to send Naoto a gift after school… and by that I mean two. Now that I know that two people from our family are dead, this seems incredibly inappropriate! She’s going to hate me more isn’t she? Maybe it isn’t too late for me to throw myself off a bridge? _

_ The Devil Summoning Program can now summon, but it doesn’t seem to work the right way. For one, it summoned Orpheus instead of the ones I wanted. Secondly, when he was obliterated, he disappeared from the COMP for good. Something tells me that I’m going to have a hard time getting the stupid thing to work. Is this even worth it? _

_ I wish Akemi was still here, maybe he would have finished programming this thing a lot sooner than I would’ve. How does he manage his time? I would write about how he’s probably chilling out in the afterlife laughing at me but… from what his death letter said, his memories die along with him. That is more messed up now that I think about it. _

_ I’m going to cry myself to sleep now. Goodnight… _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What? You think I would allow Minato to summon demons this early? Shame on you… On a serious note, should Minato be allowed to summon demons or should he stick to just using Personas?
> 
> Speaking of demons, we got some more news on SMTV. It seems like it’ll be released next year worldwide so that’s good. Nocturne is also getting a switch port so that means that newer players can play that installment in the series. Nocturne is really good by the way, I highly recommend it.
> 
> If you have anything you want to say with this story, please let me know. I’ll hopefully see you next chapter.


End file.
